There’s a lot I don’t understand, but Auburn has me dumbfounded.

Average Joe Citizen has no idea what it takes to deliver a meaningful, quality education that reaches all students, regardless of student’s level of comprehension.

We are way past the single room schoolhouse with the school matron who was the fountain from which all knowledge sprang forth.

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson described his ideas for creating public education at the elementary levels in 1785; Jefferson becomes the third president of this country; the Industrial Revolution happened; Auburn textile and shoe manufacturing became huge; several wars happened; Lawrence Welk conducted; Elvis; Auburn manufacturing died; Kennedy was assassinated; civil rights were enacted; the Beatles; Neal Armstrong walked; Woodstock happened; oil crises; Elvis died; Iranian hostage crisis; John Lennon died; Samantha Smith wrote letters; latch-key kids began the on-going decline of the American family; Samantha Smith died in Auburn; space shuttle Challenger exploded; first annual Great Falls Balloon Festival happened; I became a teacher; Frank Sinatra and Sonny Bono died; 9/11; George Harrison died; Barack Obama becomes the 44th president; Affordable Care was enacted; Osama bin Laden died on May 2, 2011.

I forgot something. Shortly after Auburn reassessed property values, taxes increased greatly; schools became the scapegoat for the City Council’s spending sprees; citizen groups formed and began digging education’s grave; school budgets were cut nine of the past 10 years.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013, Auburn education was put on life support.

Todd Mogul, Auburn