The Issue: Over half of third- to fifth-grade students in New York failing their English Language Arts test.

New York state education policies are the perfect example of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting that somehow things will be different (“Bad read: NYS failing kids,” Aug. 8).

We already spend double the national average per student. And for what? And what will our state legislators do about these falling literacy rates? Authorize an increase in education funding.

We should close schools that are poorly performing, fire teachers who can’t or won’t teach, eliminate the bloated bureaucracy that’s been allowed to flourish, hold principals and teachers accountable — and stop throwing money at this problem: It’s not working.

Kim Gamache

Saratoga Springs

Your article shaming the teachers unions for the abysmal reading scores is partly on point, but does not go far enough in spreading the blame.

While the unions, their leaders and bureaucratic administrators are all at fault, those faults can easily be overcome by parents setting priorities for their children’s education. Television, video games and cellphones, all provided by parents, have replaced books, and children are not being taught that reading can be fun.

Daniel Hodge

Union, NJ

We refuse to admit that many of the problems throughout the New York City school system result from a complete lack of discipline. Teachers have to waste far too much time constantly disciplining disruptive students. The last several mayors have made it virtually impossible to suspend troublemakers.

We don’t need mayoral control — we need people who know the system to run it. Bring back the schools for the recalcitrant. Our school system went southward when these schools were abolished due to alleged racism. No child has the right to disrupt another child’s education.

Ed Greenspan

Brooklyn

The state of child education in New York is frightening. But more frightening is that progressive socialists are getting exactly what they want.

An illiterate population fits perfectly with socialists’ plans. Educated people ask questions and socialists want no part of that. As long as they have uneducated socialist drones, they will win.

New Yorkers better wake up soon to this insidious plan, or they will be in big trouble.

William Dancosse

Vernon, Conn.

The union does not care about improving the GPA or student attendance. By increasing state school aid, Gov. Hochul in effect just gave teachers a raise, so she bought their vote with tax dollars.

Abolish the union or replace teachers with AI robots, who are not tenured and can easily be programed to properly educate a student. Until then, put cameras in all rooms to monitor teacher behavior.

Joe Cyran

Buffalo

Stop rewarding teachers who can’t raise reading scores. Stop reinforcing failure.

Relocate successful teachers to the lowest-performing schools. Link welfare, Section 8, SNAP, involvement of both parents, attendance and behavior to test scores. Nothing else has worked. Failure in school is not an intelligence problem, it’s a cultural problem.

Michael Castagna

Brooklyn

How many more stories must we read about the dismal performance of the city’s public schools before something is actually done about it?

Lowering standards is a con game, social promotion is a disgrace and the union seems to have unlimited ability to protect even the most incompetent teachers. Unless we have school choice, the destruction of our kids’ education will never get better and that is a crime.

Robert DiNardo

Farmingdale

Schools are failing because the system operates in a way where the only people who need protection are the teachers and administrators.

If we can figure out how to change this, and balance results without exhausting the teachers, then we will have fixed the education system.

Steve Preziosa Sr.

Deptford Township, NJ

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