Why do Nevada Democrats want to gut Read by Three initiative?

Are Democrats thinking?

I read in the Review-Journal that state Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, proposed legalizing physician-assisted suicide. Fortunately, it was taken off the agenda.

Assemblyman William McCurdy II, D-Las Vegas, proposed raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the coming years. Goodbye jobs for teenagers.

Finally, the Assemblyman Education Committee, led by Tyrone Thompson, D-Las Vegas, proposed dismantling the Read by Three legislation passed in 2015 requiring students to meet minimum reading standards for promotion to the fourth grade. Why would anyone think this is wise?

Does Mr. Thompson not know that reading is the key to success? Despite a slight increase in our graduation rate, Nevada still ranks last in state education systems. The graduation rate for English Language Learners is 43 percent. We cannot sink any further. Evidently, Mr. Thompson finds that satisfactory and acceptable.

Setting a minimum reading requirement for reading proficiency in the third grade is both reasonable and wise. A non-proficient child socially promoted to the fourth grade will be a non-proficient fourth grader and a non-proficient fifth grader and so on and so on. No socially promoted child will suddenly become proficient without intense remediation.

Remediation by repeating the third grade makes sense. Some children simply need an additional year to mature and catch up. Other children whose parents are either unable or unwilling to give the academic support kids need at home will benefit by repeating third grade. Socially promoting students year after year results in their academic discouragement.

Why would anyone support social promotion? Where is the accountability? Shall we kowtow to the teachers union? Read by Three was to be implemented in the 2019-20 school year and allotted $27 million for teacher training programs. Presumably, these programs have commenced and teachers are acquiring these strategies. Our kids need Read by Three.