As a fifth grade teacher at Carolina Beach Elementary School (CBES), I would like to respond to Steve Rosen’s column of the Wilmington Star News, Sunday, August 30, 2009. Mr. Rosen’s focused on the legitimate concern of the rising cost of K-12 public education. From my six year experience at CBES, we pay very close attention on what it costs to get our kids through kindergarten and the balance of elementary school. Much is at stake.

Several factors went unmentioned in the column. First, the return on investment (ROI) of whatever a family pays during the formative K-12 years is profound. Our community places a high value on education, and the inevitable economic bite becomes more tolerable. Second, the cost can be shared. At CBES, we strive to gain the respect and support of our community on the conduct of our school operation by organizing curriculum-related field trips with no out-of-pocket cost to families. Our PTO is superlatively supportive of our cost-ridden activities. We also seek and receive grant funds $1000 at a clip. Further, we have families in our community who quietly extend their purse strings knowing there are other families in need.

Finally, the importance of establishing a personal responsibility for one’s own education includes paying for part of it. When pencils are provided ad nauseum in order to keep lessons moving, student responsibility for the lesson at hand becomes lost. Some cost for a free education is justified as part of the education. Mr. Rosen is correct to say we need to pay attention to costs because the return on that investment is so grand, and our small school community does everything it can to support it.