A teacher sent me this Op-Ed by Nathan Bootz, superintendent of Public Schools in Ithaca, Michigan. Excerpt:

Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day, access to free health care, Internet, cable television, access to a library, access to weight rooms, and access to computer labs. While in prison they can earn a degree…

We treat our prisoners better than we treat our school children. The State of Michigan spends annually somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 per prisoner, yet we are struggling to provide schools with $7,000 per student. I guess we need to treat our students like they are prisoners, with equal funding. Please give my students three meals a day. Please give my children access to free health care. Please provide my school district Internet access and computers. Please put books in my library. Please give my students a weight room so they can be big and strong…

Take heart Mr. Bootz — every one of your kids is just one pot sale away from enjoying all those benefits.