Critics of Dist. 203 should look at facts

I would like to respond to a letter printed recently in the Daily Herald complaining about Naperville Unit District 203.

This paper recently did an extensive study on education and if you go to chapter 10 this is what you will find: Across 36 Chicago area high school districts, only two had more than 50 percent of students meeting college readiness benchmarks in all four subjects: Stevenson District 125 and Naperville Unit District 203. Stevenson had a composite score of 53 percent at an 11-year cost of $134,000. District 203 scored a 51 percent at a 25 percent lower cost of $101,000.

If you look at the next ten highest performing districts and average their results vs. Naperville District 203, you will find 203's costs are 15 percent lower than that average and their test score is 42 percent higher.

Think about that for a minute. I don't understand why District 203's critics have such a hard time accepting that District 203 does so well in educating our children at a cost lower than that of the other high performing districts. The Daily Herald study shows that District 203 truly provides an excellent educational value for my children and an excellent value for my tax dollars.

Thom Higgins

Naperville