GOP misguided on repealing tax for education

By Vinny Spotleson, Las Vegas

Thursday, April 28, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Recent news reports chronicle an absurd discussion about education funding within the Nevada Republican Party.

The party’s far-right side attacks the commerce tax as evidence of financial recklessness. Meanwhile, only slightly closer to the middle, “moderate” Republicans bask in its glow, as though it was some ultimate solution to school-funding issues.

Unfortunately, there is inarguable evidence that neither faction of the GOP gets it.

Those who would repeal the tax prefer that our schools suffer — which actually could be beneficial to them, given that a poorly educated citizenry might enable a Tea Party majority to win more elections. Never mind that it reflects an utter lack of empathy for our future.

On the other side, the GOP’s moderates actually have talked themselves into believing that — by surviving their party’s internecine Carson City battle in 2015 — they are somehow the champions of education. This is delusional thinking.

The sad, fact-based reality is that schools are falling further behind, especially in Clark County.

All 2017 Nevada legislators need to recognize that we have only just begun to address schools-funding challenges. Thus far, state support represents a drop in the bucket on a hot desert day.

The writer is a Democratic candidate for State Assembly District 21.