With the special legislative session in full swing, funding for education is once again threatened.

Should the Republican-proposed budget cuts pass, public schools will have to reduce offerings. The March 14 issue of The Beachcomber illustrates why I think this must not happen. Islanders have an enormous diversity of passions and occupations. Examples from this one issue are Adria Magrath’s love of nudibranchs; Erin Kenny’s love of wild edibles; Ray Pfortner’s nature photography; Elizabeth C.D. Brown’s chamber music; poet Anna Rose Warren; acupuncturist Paul Karsten (an off-islander); school nurse Sarah Day; editor Leslie Brown, and state Sen. Sharon Nelson, to name a few.

It seems to me a rich public education is more likely to produce this range of interests than a curriculum confined to readin’, writin’ and ’rithmetic, which will result from the proposed cuts.

— Kate Hunter