Congratulations on the new CEO look. You are to be applauded for stories with a “harder edge” and for “accuracy, balance and fairness” as your mantra. But in reading the article titled “Washington’s Big Brain Deficit,” a reader might erroneously conclude that taxpayer money spent, or not spent on education, is related to student achievement and a hypothetical brain deficit.

The truth may be that colleges need more relevant admission and graduation standards and our K-12 schools a relevant and effective curriculum, as well as graduation standards relevant to students and businesses.

We may need more jobs and valid career paths for new college graduates, but we certainly do not have a brain deficit. Voters can only hope that our legislators do not believe that taxpayer money is needed as a first step in solving the “brain drain” or other nonexistent “educational problems.” The standardized state test is a ticket to nowhere [and has] clearly shown that students in districts that spend a lot of money on “education” do little better than students in districts that do not spend much on “education.”

You might consider having a series of articles discussing: 1) Why some states pay the costs for students to take gatekeeper tests while Washington pays for a ticket to nowhere; 2) why the level of education funding has little impact on educational results; and 3) why curriculums that produce results are not made available to all students. Such a series of articles would be most enlightening to your readers and would have the possibility of evoking critically needed changes.

John Axtell
Valley