The Journal continues to inaccurately characterize the performance of Rhode Island’s public schools, which suggests a hidden agenda. Despite solid evidence to the contrary, including detailed reports by the commissioner and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, The Journal (“Choosing school choice,” editorial, March 19) states that our public schools are “generally mediocre.”

Rhode Island’s suburban and rural schools have performed and continue to perform as well as if not better than their peers throughout the Northeast and the country, and the commissioner recently released statistics announcing significant improvements in math and English at all grade levels. The good news is that this included all student groups, including low-income and minority students, despite the additional challenges faced by students in our urban-core communities.

As usual, The Journal also criticized teacher unions by suggesting that teacher contracts are a hindrance to change. Without existing contracts, language regarding class size, mentoring programs and professional development might fail to exist, thus removing some key factors that lead to improved test scores. Teachers, staff, administrators, and parents are the keys to continue moving forward.

If The Journal wants to take bold action, it should join with us in changing Rhode Island’s formula for state aid to education in an effort to increase overall aid while lessening the burden on the local property taxpayer. The General Assembly’s own study addresses just that issue. Supporting school choice programs that don’t work is anything but bold. In fact, if the Utah plan were implemented in Rhode Island, education costs would rise, not fall.

LAWRENCE E. PURTILL

Narragansett

The writer is president of the National Education Association Rhode Island, a teachers union.