As hard as I try to refrain from writing to this paper because of the tiresome, predictably bitter responses that consistently come afterward, there always seems to be something that triggers a response from me.

That said, I'm accustomed to "illegal aliens" being used to explain our financial woes, but now it's "lazy, undeserving, overpaid" teachers. Two disenfranchised groups suddenly have the power and ability to wreck an entire state's economy.

Superintendent Mario Contini was right on in citing Proposition 13 and its detrimental effects on public education. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure makes educating children easier.

I hear about the amazing things my own children receive at their local school—assemblies, field trips, incredible technology, PE and music specialists—but 20 minutes north in a poor part of Ventura County, my students don't have these amenities.

Money isn't connected to a better education? I see the difference daily in what more money does for kids.

Furthermore, if money isn't the solution to today's problems, why is absolutely everyone is so focused on it right now? Money seems to be the solution to every problem other than public education. Interesting.

As far as California being "responsible for Mexico" (I wonder if Mr. Morgan felt we had a "responsibility" to bring democracy to Iraq), nobody really has a "responsibility" to help other human beings, but it is a nice thing to do.

Also, the comment that California teachers "enjoy the highest salaries" while "producing" a high dropout rate is silly; I have a teacher friend in Ohio who makes half what I make, yet she bought a house for a fourth of what I paid for mine.

I challenge those who blame "bad, ineffective teachers" for the "fiasco in public education" to visit the broken, dysfunctional, drug-infested, abusive homes in which some of our kids live, and tell teachers how to educate children who aren't coming to school of sound mind and body in the first place.

Public educators can't do it all, and with less money, it's much more difficult. Tina Aschenbrenner Thousand Oaks