I drove a garbage truck 39 years ago and made what NC school bus drivers do now

School bus drivers

I was struck while reading the Sept. 12 article about our school bus drivers making $12.75 per hour in 2021. I had a flashback. In the past, I drove a garbage truck in the Chicago area where I earned close to the same pay as our bus drivers. But it was 1982! Almost 40 years ago. Aren’t our bus drivers who transport our greatest resource, our children, worth more than someone who hauled trash four decades ago? Where are our priorities?

Jerry Decker, Fuquay-Varina

School funding

Regarding “School bus drivers say higher pay would help with shortage, (Sept. 12):

I wonder if Senate leader Phil Berger ever considered that the widespread shortages of school bus drivers is because they are universally underpaid, and not a myth of left-wing agitators.

Unlike North Carolina, some states don’t have a wad of excess money just sitting around gathering dust.

School districts shouldn’t have to rely on occasional windfalls from the Feds to pay for needed services. The state should provide ongoing, adequate funding for its schools.

And why aren’t parents whose children ride buses to school up in arms over this? The driver has your child’s life in his/her hands.

Lynda Creutzburg, Wake Forest

Madison Cawthorn

Regarding “Johnston delays vote on school masks. Congressman Cawthorn calls for end of mandate,” (Sept. 15):

I find it hard to believe that the people of Johnston County had U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn attending a school board meeting to tell them what to do about their children.

Cawthorn is not a medical doctor, he dropped out of college after a year because he failed his classes, he’s younger than most of the parents, and has a history of lying about many things. Is he the kind of person you want your kids to emulate as an outstanding citizen?

He does like to hear himself rant and rave. I am actually embarrassed that he represents the great state of North Carolina. Those who care about the health and welfare of their children will do the right thing by them and protect them from this horrible disease.

Dolores Faye Banks, Cary

It’s not socialism

Would somebody please tell Rep. Madison Cawthorn that mask mandates and vaccine requirements have absolutely nothing to do with socialism. Masking and vaccinations are health related; socialism is an economic theory and practice. Cawthorn is either woefully ignorant or purposely lying. Neither one should be acceptable for an elected official.

Leon Barber, Raleigh

School vouchers

I don’t understand the N.C. GOP and its obsession with remaking education in North Carolina in its image. By the rankings of our universities, which I’m assuming are mainly filled with in-state students educated in N.C. high-schools, we seem to be doing pretty well.

But they have decided to go to war with our public school system. The sad thing is they’ve apparently decided to reintroduce separate but equal from the ‘60s. Pouring money into school vouchers, that allow eligible families to pay tuition at the private school of their choice, while not holding those schools to the same standards or criteria of public schools makes it impossible to compare apples to apples.

Steve Lowry, Cary

Death panels

Conservatives’ fears about “death panels” to ration health care have come true. No, panels were not imposed by liberal Washington elites, Obamacare, or expanded government benefits. They are being imposed in deep Red states because of the hospital capacity crisis created by conservative, COVID-denying anti-vaxxers.

Jeff Braden, Raleigh

End the bickering

All the bickering about vaccination and masking mandates is counterproductive. If you are not protected or protecting yourself yet, simply take advantage of the availability of such means as vaccines and face coverings, and the question of the legitimacy of mandates becomes mute. We also would not have to argue any more about whether mandates fall under the purview of private, corporate, local, state, or federal authority. Requirements that benefit us all are not and should not be controversial and divisive.

Bill Grothmann, Raleigh