Oh, Ashley Herzog.  Only you would politicize such a pressing issue like funding to our public schools.  I’ve been reading your column for about a year now, and every time I’ve been shocked by the level of anger and paranoia that comes out, but in the October 1 issue, you went above and beyond the call.  

I feel that this column threw facts and figures at The Post readership without giving any personal feel to the piece.  Here’s a little fun fact for you: we live in a state where the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled four times that the way our public schools are funded is unconstitutional. Our schools are mostly locally funded through property taxes, which creates a mind-numbing gap between the haves of Solon, Upper Arlington and West Chester and the have-nots of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

My mother has been teaching the underprivileged for over 30 years, and let me be the first to tell you that she hasn’t had a summer off for as long as I can remember; every year, she teaches summer school so that my parents can put a little more money away for me to go to college.

Almost two years ago, I did my senior project in the education department at Planned Parenthood (another of Ms. Herzog’s favorite topics), educating the inner-city students of Cleveland about how to make responsible, mature, informed decisions about their bodies. The high schools where I was had cracked foundations, peeling paint, poor insulation and crumbling tile floors.  

I urge someone with Ms. Herzog’s opinions to go into a school like that and say that the public schools don’t need more money. It was late April and early May, but the buildings were so dank and moldy that the students wore jackets inside; it seemed to me that when I entered the building, no sunlight could shine through those splintered window frames.

Due to freedom of speech, Ms. Herzog may bash Senator Obama as much as she desires. However, in this directionless piece, she accused my hardworking mother of being lazy and whiny. For that, Ms. Herzog, you went too far.

Cami Needle is a sophomore studying journalism and social services.