And divided, we shall surely fall

If people want to have their children attend a private school or religious school, they should pay for that themselves, not have regular taxpayer monies diverted to those "special interest" programs. Our tax dollars go to public school education, ever heard of the “separation of church and state?”

Doing away with the federal Department of Education and authorizing each state to implement its own education criteria is very short-sighted and a detriment to a fair educational system. For example, a student goes to school in state X that has its own education criteria, then his family moves to state B, where their education criteria is different from state X, you could end up with a 14-year-old in the second grade because the criteria from the state he/she moved from doesn’t fulfill the education requirements of the state the student moved to, and the 14-year-old is held back due to educational criteria being different for each state. This is why there is a federal public education system — to try and offer consistency in education no matter which state a person goes to school in. Get it? It is the United States of America, not the Individual States of America.

Elon Musk is not the co-president of America, he is a private citizen that should absolutely not have access to personal information for citizens of the United States of America. What security clearances has he or his just-out-of-high-school minions have? And where did they get such clearances? From a Cracker Jack's box?

Enough divisiveness since the election, where is the unity?

MICHAEL HARMELIN

Sandpoint