Time for a new kind of GI Bill

Re "Once again, help for wartime vets" (Editorial, Nov. 11): On Veterans Day we were reminded of the significance of the "GI Bill for the 21st Century" signed this past summer. The very first GI Bill came in 1944 to honor World War II vets with education benefits, loans to buy homes, and medical assistance. Almost 60 years later it has been resigned, and it is shocking that only 14,000 out of 35,000 Californians who leave the military every year use the GI Bill advantage by going to college. It may be time for a new approach, such as a GI Junior Bill.

This is a scholarship for school-age children whose parents still serve in the military, allowing them to choose the best school available. As military families are constantly uprooted, this is a means to ensure that no matter where they live, whether a military base, a rural town or the inner city, they have more than one option for education. The GI Junior Bill is a way to show military men and women our thankfulness for their service by giving opportunities to their children.

– Evelyn Stacey, Sacramento