Public education a winner for everyone

To the editor:

I had a rip-roaring good laugh over the comments from Peter Sanders (Tuesday letter) who thinks that because parents chose to have children they should be responsible for paying for the education of their kids.

Mr. Sanders' thinking is only limited to his pocketbook. What he needs to realize is that when he pays his share for education -- or if gaming taxes or other taxes help pay -- one of the children we are all educating might be the guy operating on us in 10 years, or the judge handing out a sentence to the guy who murdered your neighbor.

Or maybe that child you educated becomes a teacher, or the health professional that's taking care of you in the nursing home.

Education has a trickle-down effect. Paying for a child's education now brings greater rewards for our society as a whole later. We can choose to educate them and give them a chance for a bright, productive future -- or we can use your tax dollars to build bigger prisons and more homeless shelters.

I choose education.

Cayce Newton

LAS VEGAS

Communal responsibility

To the editor:

In response to the Tuesday letter from Peter Sanders, in which he asks why he should have to pay taxes to educate someone else's child, arguing that parents should pay for it themselves:

Once upon a time, people understood that contributing to their community made life better for everyone in the form of schools, libraries, roads and other infrastructure.

The issue, however, was about funding schools. Let me explain.

America has a vibrant economy and a high standard of living due to our tax-funded education system, in which all children attend school. If one considers the nations that do not have public education, relatively few children get an education because most parents cannot afford it. Now, where are these countries with no public education? They are Third World nations. And how are the economies in these countries? The better question is probably more like: What economy?

Because America educates all of her children, we are blessed with having a wide range of products and services available to us. Public education is where the vast majority of doctors, inventors, businessmen, landscape designers, etc. started out. Now imagine if most of the people you know never received any education. Our lives would be just as sad and without potential as any Third World country.

I'm also childless, but I will happily pay taxes to fund education in order to maintain the standard of living we enjoy as a nation.

MICHELLE CHURCHMAN

PAHRUMP

Teacher plan

To the editor:

I am a construction worker. I live in Las Vegas, and for the past 20 years, the gaming industry has supplied my family a very good living. I believe that there are a lot of other families that are in the same boat as we are.

We currently have four grandchildren in the Clark County School District. We participate in all school-related fundraising; we help out whenever we are asked. We also pay property taxes and sales taxes whenever we shop. According to the Democrats, we are rich. My wife is a registered nurse, I am a union electrician. We make and spend well over $100,000 a year here in Las Vegas.

My concern is if we heap new taxes on the gaming industry, what will become of all the construction workers doing commercial construction here in Clark County?

It would seem to me that if the teachers need more money, we should just eliminate some of the administrative positions that are keeping the money out of the hands of teachers.

Education is half the state budget, and administration costs are a significant portion of that. Do we really need to pay those who are not doing much of a job anyway? The money should be spent on new schools and the folks needed to run the schools -- principals and teachers, along with custodians and police officers.

It is time to do some serious cutting of the fat and stop all the rhetoric about our being at the bottom of some table that says we are spending less per student than any other state.

If it turns out that cutting positions which are not necessary does not generate enough money to satisfy the teachers, then please let me pay more so that my golden goose does not stop laying golden eggs.

NICHOLAS P. GARTNER

LAS VEGAS