To the Editor:

I'm responding to a letter from a leader for more taxing and spending, Supervisor Dan Storck, published in April 28, 2016 Mount Vernon Gazette regarding the county budget that includes more taxes.

Before I sent the following email to all supervisors, I sent an email prior to budget consideration stating ways to cut wasteful spending and costs before raising taxes.That was ignored except one supervisor sent me a generalized political proforma response.

I sent another email to all supervisors before budget consideration regarding major flaws in the FCPS educational system that needs attention before considering the FCPS budget request. That email was totally ignored. I then sent another email to all supervisors after they had approved the FY 2017 County budget I received five automatic replies from the supervisors.

After reading the following email, I urge all overburdened taxpayers and parents to call their supervisor and demand that the FCPS system be improved to help ensure that all students receive a quality education at all times and that accountability for educational outcomes be a top priority at all times.

Here is the last email I sent to all supervisors on the FCPS system:

BOS members:

The BOS decision to throw more taxpayers' money at FCPS without in-depth evaluation of the FCPS flaws enhances your political agenda but doesn't help the students get a quality education at all times. What's missing is teacher accountability for educational outcomes. That should be the top most priority when it comes to spending taxpayer money.

Only 54 percent of high school graduates are prepared for college. What about the other 46 percent who are not? What kind of unfair burden is placed on those students for lacking knowledge to help them achieve to the best of their abilities? Apparently, this problem has been around a long time because when I served in the Virginia General Assembly during the 1980s, college faculty would tell me that they could always tell a student from Fairfax County because they had high grades but needed to take remedial courses before they could take regular college courses.

Despite the low state benchmarks for accreditation, 85 percent for English and 70 percent for other subjects, there are a number of schools not fully accredited with 12 located in Mount Vernon and Lee Districts.

Teachers get raises based on certain educational courses they complete. While it is good to gain current knowledge, student education performance should be the first criteria.

There's more like drop-out rates and non-education rates that I won't go into.

You need to set aside your political agendas and put the students first for a quality education and accountability for educational outcomes when deciding money issues for FCPS.

Please respond to my specific concerns.

Frank Medico

Mount Vernon