I rest my case on Jim Wooten's shilling!

I posted just yesterday on the AJC's Jim Wooten being a tool of the right. And today's AJC had enough response to allow me to rest my case. Two "readers" offered in part, with my emphasis supplied, the following,

Education: Responses to Jim Wooten's column "More money won't make schools better,'' issue, March 14
Spending more fails to boost results
People do love to throw money at problems --- but how it is spent is at least as important as how much is spent, and it is misspent constantly in education.
Special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) funds can be used only for buildings, so instead of sprucing up what we already have, we build new and probably unneeded buildings. School systems are also top-heavy with administrators, who then complain about mandates limiting class size. If a few of them were returned to classrooms at appropriately lower salaries, it would go a long way toward improving student-to-teacher ratios.
We could also look to Japan and Western Europe, where they have wonderful education systems and spend much less than we do.
In education, as in most things, money means power, not necessarily results.
EDWIN WILLIAMS Williams is a French and history teacher at Valdosta High School.

Legislators stumble over twisted logic
Now that Jim Wooten has proved that more money for education doesn't improve outcome, Gov. Sonny Perdue should veto the ridiculous bill requiring schools to spend 65 percent of their funding in the classroom. This bill would mean that funds for libraries, transportation to and from school and on field trips, school lunches, extra intervention programs such as remediation, and presumably building new facilities must be taken out of the remaining 35 percent. The kids can have
top-of-the-line computers, but not a roof that doesn't leak.
Ironically, another bill awaiting the governor's signature will make that 35 percent threshold impossible to meet. By requiring smaller classes without consideration for extenuating circumstances --- such as lack of space for more classrooms, and without additional state funding --- the Legislature apparently intends to force school systems to go on a building program of massive proportions.
Maybe the legislators need remediation in logic.
CAROLINE KNIGHT, Atlanta

Mr. Williams, you surely know the European and Japanese systems are in no way related to "one size fits all education" that we attempt in the USA! Not even close! And the Europeans and Japanese spend in a different way that we do. I've had a teacher from Europe in my home plus I've read research and other works explaining their approach. If you have examined their objective approach then you'd perhaps know how unfair your logic is. Apples to oranges sir. We try to educate the masses and they separate the wheat from the chaff.

Ms. Knight, Jim Wooten has "proved" nothing beyond that he is willing to shovel what he is handed by certain right wing groups. I agree that the arbitrary 35% spending cap is poor policy yet hardly due to any "fact" or "logic" presented via Jim Wooten. I fear he is incapable of the same.

Peace ... or War!