When I read the article "Student funds targeted" (Deseret News, Nov. 15), I was elated that the state Office of Education has proposed eliminating the $674,844 subsidy that has been going to foreign exchange students. In a state where education receives the "lion's share" of the hard-earned tax dollars of Utah taxpayers and where teacher salaries are so pitifully low, it makes no sense that we belong to an exclusive club of just 12 states that pay for foreign exchange students' schooling.
Having lived overseas for two years, I learned firsthand that most of the foreign exchange students in the country where I was living come from well-to-do families who could easily afford to pay for their children's education in U.S. schools. Then, when I read that most Utah students who participate in the foreign exchange program have to pay their own tuition, the unfairness of the situation became even more obvious.
The state School Board is absolutely right on this one.
Donald A. Larson
Layton