North Carolina state GOP Rep. Mike Stone said he is furious that he received a letter from his third-grade daughter asking him to "Please put the budget higher, dad."
Stone's daughter and other students at Tramway Elementary were writing about the Lee County Board of Education's plan to eliminate 126 educators, due to state budget cuts. Overall, proposed state-wide cuts to public schools could eliminate 9,300 jobs. Stone told The Sanford Herald that the notes were were full of "talking points."
"They put all the ideas on the board and coached them through it," he said. "The class was asked to write a paper on why (my daughter's) daddy should not let teachers assistants get fired. She thinks she's done a great thing, and I'm not going to tell her otherwise." He may, however, take action against the school, he says.
The superintendent told the paper that the class project was a writing exercise for the students and encourages civic engagement.
