A few weeks ago I was saddened to see Peggy Bennett misquoted in a letter to the editor by Miles Pechacek. He stated, “She has a problem with the government providing programs such as free breakfasts for students.” Well here are her exact words:

“We need to have a quality education system. That includes early childhood. There’s a gap between poverty kids and other children, and I see it every day in my classroom. So it’s important and I think we need to fund our education wisely and we need to fund it well.

“I do have a problem, and I struggle with this, because I see the state and the federal government starting to raise our children. All these good programs, from breakfast to whatever are good, but it takes responsibility away from the parents and puts it onto the state — and family is the core to our society. Every time we do that we weaken the family. We need to find ways to strengthen the family. We need to find ways to lift up the economics in our area so people can support themselves. We need to find ways to get the poverty kids to get the language that they need and all those things.

“So that’s a struggle for me. It’s important. I would definitely support early childhood education as I do regular education. But at the same time, I want to be very careful that we do not take things away from our parents. Because every time we do it weakens the family.”

Peggy’s quote came directly from a forum that can be view via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCSsJzqwc9Q&app=desktop.

Peggy is a woman I have had the privilege of knowing for many years. She taught two of my children, and I’ve also had the opportunity to work with her. Her whole being is about educating children and their success in our world. She knows better than anyone that a hungry child has a difficult time learning. It cannot be the government’s responsibility to feed our children, but that of their family, the first educators in our children’s lives. God bless her for her support of the American family and in choosing to run as our representative. My vote is for Peggy Bennett!

Tami Boyer

Albert Lea