Editor:

I am a 22-year-old resident of Fairhope, and I have lived here my whole life. Recently, I have been hearing more and more about the issue of our schools in Baldwin County having to make drastic cutbacks. I understand our economy is hurting now, and many places across the U.S. are cutting back. I also understand that jobs of all sorts are suffering from this recession.

However, what I don’t understand is why we are not making more of an effort to help such organizations as our school system. Why can’t we take money from such things as our “corner flowers” or the new trees in the middle of some roads in Fairhope and give it to the schools? I know Fairhope is a beautiful town, and that we take great pride in making our downtown area beautiful to bring in tourism to help revenue, but shouldn’t we focus more on our future in hard times like these? Why can we not cut back in areas that are not necessary to help the schools our children attend?

I am not aware of all the expenses our city takes on, which is why I am writing this letter, but I do believe there are more ways we could help out. I just think we need to go back to the basics. Hopefully, if one town takes this route, it will influence other cities in Baldwin to direct more attention to their schools as well.

Our children’s education is our future and without it, things like flowers, lighted trees and the town’s image will not matter any more. All I ask is that people who have the authority to make decisions that could better us in our future start thinking of more cost-effective ways to help out the important basic things in life, like education, and start acting on them in a positive way.

Fairhope