Tina Aschenbrenner Sandoval fails to recognize her own role in the budget cuts with her tiresome, predictable and bitter April 9 letter ("Teachers must be paid if we want firstrate education"). How dare anyone oppose her views!

Tina, Mr. Morgan didn't blame ineffective teachers for the education fiasco, his point was about the teachers union nonsensical merit policy.

Your other quote about highest salaries was also incorrect and likely came from Mr. Kessler.

Shouldn't a teacher strive to be accurate and quote people properly especially when writing about ineffective teachers?

Both Mr. Morgan and Mr. Kessler had factual informative letters worth rereading while you told us Ohio has cheaper houses.

What's truly interesting is that you and your union push for big government policies and elected officials who share your goals, and yet here we have the big government you wanted telling us we'll have to do with less, and you're upset about it.

You seem to think we should pay for any and all services, no matter the cost, even though it's not the government's money or the government's job.

There's no compassion for taxpayers when big government steals more of our money for yet another program they think we can't live without, but when they make budget cuts close to home, it suddenly matters.

The state's financial situation has been occurring for years due to irresponsible spending, irresponsible management, ineffective and needless programs, along with corruption, fraud, etc. To deny there's an irresponsible spending problem isn't realistic.

Only after accumulating a massive debt were our leaders forced to face reality and beg Washington for stimulus money. Now other responsible tax payers will be forced to at least partially bail out our state's irresponsible behavior.

And it looks like the federal government is following California's lead.

One wonders where the outrage is with our leaders who choose not to prioritize education, the unrealistic goals of unions, top heavy school systems and for the voters, who continue to enable them all in one of the highest taxed states in the union. Mike Di Fatta Thouand Oaks