Sports Illustrated ran a column on how unfair it is that private high schools give scholarships to attract football players in New Jersey and elsewhere. Here is a letter I sent in response:
Editor
Sports Illustrated
The state of New Jersey and its towns lavish more money on public schools than any system in the United States , with average spending of over $13,000 per student. New Jersey families that wish to send their children to private schools must still pay exhorbitant property taxes (again, New Jersey leads the nation in per capita property tax burden) on top of private school tuition (one school mentioned in the article charges $8,850 per year). The public schools receive funding regardless of how well their students and constituents are served, and do so by coercive force. Their private counterparts rely on the voluntary contributions of families and alumni for survival. Now public school coaches want to make things more fair by restricting the eligibility of student-athletes that choose private schools or by instituting separate schedules for the publics and privates! Would this be acceptable in any other arena? What would they propose next when student-athletes continue to attend the private schools? We should shudder at the thought.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Rizzo
Great Barrington, MA
