READERS WRITE

Computerized data

Responses to “Medical data must graduate from the cave,” @issue, Jan. 30.

Make student records electronic, too

In his opinion column, Dr. Jack Lewin says: “In today’s world there are too many prescriptions, too many procedures and too many variables for doctors still to be relying on paper records.” As an educator who had monitored the individual progress of thousands of k-12 students for well over a quarter of a century, I can state unequivocally that until educational records of students are placed on computers in electronic systems, similar to medical records, and then utilized by teachers to instruct to individual needs, our educational system will flounder.

We must come out of the dark ages in education and instruct students where they are individually functioning. Giving teachers access to electronic educational records of students is essential. Precision in education in no way hinders creativity. In fact, enlightened knowledge of where each student is functioning enhances the effectiveness of all methods of instruction.

ELIZABETH HARTLEY FILLIAT

Alpharetta

Medical history on CD has benefits

I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Lewin. I provide technical support for radiology PACS and work with hospitals all over the U.S. and Canada. Not only would computerized medical records condense patient information in one easily accessible location, it would make it easier to provide care in case of disaster.

After Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast hospitals had to ship patients all over the country with only cursory medical records. With computerized records, patients could carry CDs of their medical history and hospitals could restore their data from backup locations. The potential for losing patient information would be greatly reduced, patients would be assured continuity of care, and hospitals would be back up and running more quickly.

REBECCA WRIGHT

Sandy Springs

What trauma care numbers said

In a recent column “Environmental virtue, trauma care, emissions” (@issue, Jan. 30), Jim Wooten snubs his nose at our finding that 69 percent of Georgians are willing to pay $25 or more per year for improved trauma care and suggests that we should have framed our question as follows: “How much in higher taxes are you personally willing to pay to provide …?”

While our actual question didn’t refer specifically to taxes, the preceding question did. Poll respondents were asked whether they favored “creating and maintaining a trauma system supported by public funds, whether taxes, fees or fines of some sort?” Some 75.6 percent responded yes. Then we asked: “How much would you be willing to pay per year to have a trauma system in Georgia ready to provide care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if you or your family were seriously injured?”

The respondents were then asked to select one of six options. Those results: Nothing —- 7 percent; $1 —- 4 percent; $5 —- 9.4 percent; $10 —- 10.6 percent; $25 —- 27.4 percent; more than $25 —- 41.6 percent. We polled 397 registered Georgia voters from throughout the state; half were in South Georgia, where our findings on support for public funding and personal willingness to pay were in line with —- and in some cases higher than —- other parts of the state.

JAMES J. BASON

Bason is director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Georgia.

Five ideas to generate state revenue

Both Republican and Democratic elected leaders just don’t get it. Georgia is broke! Yet they talk about school vouchers, furloughs, cutbacks and scheme of every conceivable way to raise taxes to generate revenue. When are they going to consider new sources of revenue?

Here are five proposals that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars each year:

Allow Sunday alcohol sales; expand legalized gambling to include full Las Vegas-style venues; tax the kaolin industry with a mineral severance tax that has never been collected; tax the storied timber interests in Georgia that receive all sorts of tax breaks; establish a commission to promote new oil refineries and offshore drilling along the Georgia coast and encourage biofuel refineries to take advantage of Georgia’s pre-eminent location in the Southeast as the center of this new industry.

STEPHEN SMITH

Marietta

Complicated tax code or different intent?

Reading about Tom Daschle’s and Tim Geithner’s recent tax issues makes me wonder why simplifying the tax code isn’t closer to the top of President Obama’s priority list. (Right after preventing financial Armageddon.) Let’s take both men at their word that, in effect, these were accidents, omissions, and/or mistakes.

If the best and brightest of this administration can still get tripped up on our tax code, what hope do the rest of us have? Geithner has Ivy League undergraduate and graduate degrees, worked at the International Monetary Fund and is now our Treasury secretary. Daschle doesn’t have the gold-plated degrees and financial background, but he has plenty of money to hire people who do to work on his taxes. Either the code is too complex or these guys aren’t coming clean.

BRAD BEEBE

Doraville

Stimulus package would help schoolkids

For decades, federal law has mandated that local school districts provide a number of services to disabled students and students from poor families. But rarely has Washington met its obligation to fully fund these programs. That could change under the president’s stimulus proposal. Georgia schools stand to gain more than $1 billion overall and $721 million for students who are disabled or from poor families. These funds are essential to helping our schools provide the best education for Georgia schoolchildren. Atlanta Public Schools alone stands to gain $103.5 million over a two-year period from this important educational initiative. The majority of the funds will go directly toward offsetting costs incurred from federal mandates as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and construction funding.

Ultimately, these funds will help supplement recent state cuts of $55 million over five years. Without the stimulus package, APS faces the challenge of having to make cuts that impact the instructional program and could result in layoffs. Georgia schoolchildren deserve the support of every member of Georgia’s legislative delegation for these important educational initiatives.

JOHN G. RICE and HOSANNA M. JOHNSON

Rice is chairman of the board of directors and Johnson is president of the Atlanta Education Fund.

Certification pay switch upsets teacher

Whenever there has been an opportunity to prove my worth and expertise as a teacher, I have taken it, including earning national board certification. The governor’s proposal to rescind the certification pay supplement is a month too late. In December, I paid $1,150 to meet the deadline to renew this certification and go through the process again. The governor’s office failed to consider such details. The governor’s ruse to replace national board teachers with “Master Teachers” will reward a far less rigorous evaluation that is little more than plugging scores into a template that can be the result of being in the right place at the right time.

Where is the cost-savings in promoting a 15 percent raise for “Master Teachers” while removing the 10 percent national certification supplement? If I were a new teacher or considering teaching as a career, I would think twice about a profession with arbitrary compensation and broken agreements from the state.

JOLINDA COLLINS

Lawrenceville