LETTERS: School district needs competition
To the editor:
Sheila Morse’s recent letter misses the mark (“Private school funding,” June 16 Review-Journal). The real issue is improving public schools. This cannot be done by throwing money at the Clark County School District’s bureaucratic abyss.
Giving additional funding to CCSD is akin to giving money to a drunk and expecting him to buy food. CCSD does not have to be prudent with taxpayer money because there is no competition. After wasting millions on administrative facilities, consultants and layers of administration, CCSD can get additional revenue from taxpayers by crying, “Save the children.” CCSD has created its own municipality, complete with a horde of unionized policemen, bus drivers, gardeners, janitors, cooks, plumbers, electricians, etc.
Competition from private schools will force CCSD to be more efficient. Competition in the private sector delivers the best value for the consumer. One only has to look at the grocery store industry for an example, with competition driving profit margins to 1 percent. That could never happen in the public sector, where the employee is favored over the taxpaying customer.
PATRICIA LEE
LAS VEGAS
Hardy’s comments
To the editor:
I just finished reading how certain Democrats want to vilify Rep. Cresent Hardy for comments he allegedly made on May 30 (“Dems attack Hardy’s comment on disabled,” June 15 Review-Journal). I am both physically disabled and a Democrat, and I find the calls for apologies by state Sen. Ruben Kihuen and others absurd and insulting to my intelligence.
Nothing Mr. Hardy said is offensive in reference to his children — “Hopefully they never have some disability that causes them to have to utilize that.” Presumably, “that” refers to disability benefits. Where is the offense? Don’t all parents wish the same for their children? Doesn’t every caring human hope that friends and family never become disabled?
The ridiculous political gyrations being taken by Democrats are due to panic and desperation (see November 2014). And that’s among many reasons why people like me, lifelong Democrats, have and will continue to leave the party, or at least vote Republican.
JOSH KUNIS
LAS VEGAS
Federal leave abuse
To the editor:
Given my circumstances, the editorial on abuse of federal leave truly infuriated me (“This isn’t working,” June 10 Review-Journal). My husband, a cabdriver, was recently diagnosed with a golf ball-size cancerous tumor on his left kidney that required surgery. He had to request Family and Medical Leave Act time off from his employer for a 12-week period. He has two weeks of paid vacation coming on his anniversary date next month, though that counts toward his 12-week FMLA leave.
If my husband needs longer than 12 weeks, because Nevada is a right-to-work state, he might lose his job. He may or may not be rehired. If he were rehired, he will have lost his seniority. During the time he will be recuperating, whether it’s a couple of weeks or the entire 12 weeks, he will not get paid a single dime for any kind of “sick leave” coverage. In other words: no work, no pay.
Between the vacation pay and his last paycheck, we know that if he’s off longer than a month, then we will have to take money from our savings, which in all probability, we won’t be able to replace in the foreseeable future.
Then I read this editorial about the incredible abuses by federal employees, and I wanted to sit down and cry. Why is it that federal employees have these perks, when those who pay the salaries of these government sops don’t have the privileges of being paid for not working, continuing to build their pensions, amassing vacation and sick days, and, incredible as it may sound, receiving pay raises?
These ridiculous abuses have got to stop. I hope that the outcome of the investigation by Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa ultimately causes more than just concern. President Barack Obama keeps harping about leveling the playing field. OK. Let’s start by giving all federal employees the same financial treatment as the average American worker.
BARBARA MAZUR
LAS VEGAS
Feds and credit cards
To the editor:
It was appalling to read the article about the abuse of taxpayer-funded credit cards by federal employees (“Pentagon employees tried to hide spending on gambling, adult services,” May 7 Review-Journal online). And those in charge can’t figure out how to stop it.
Here’s how: take away the credit cards, fire the employees and, since this has been going on awhile, fire the person in charge. Letting corrupt employees run amok with tax-funded credit cards can only make sense to a moron.
DARLENE JONES
LAS VEGAS
