Dear Mitt...

As a citizen of the fair Commonwealth of Massachusetts for quite a number of years - nearly 35 at this point - I feel uniquely qualified to respond to Mitt Romney's latest education campaign speech.You see, as a public school teacher in a small urban Massachusetts school district, I wonder how Mitt can call the US public education, particularly this state's system "third world" when his fiscal policies directly affected the state's ability to adequately fund education. Draconian cuts to the state's education aid and education budgets were implemented by the Romney administration so that Candidate Romney can now point to his budgets as being so lean and mean that he was able to cut taxes. And if our education system resembles anything "third world" - and I disagree about that pithy little soundbite - Mitt should look in the mirror for the one to blame.Over the past few years, I've seen the district in which I work decimated financially.  Teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians,  cafeteria, custodial staff, social workers.... all cut heavily and some cut in entirety. Buildings closed. Class sizes are bigger, which means that there's far more crowd control in an elementary classroom today than there used to be.  Sorry Mitt, but despite your crack "research" from McKinsey & Company, size does matter.Yes, Mitt, successful education is dependent on a partnership - parent, teacher, and student - who support each child.  There may be lots of reasons for that partnership to fail, but it is insulting and simplistic to think that a child's school success is dependent upon a two-parent family unit. Forcing your own social prejudices into education policy is just plain ignorant.Hopefully your flawed and obvious pandering to win votes will be seen for what it is. Garbage.