No One Asked Me But… (April 26, 2023)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… This is a wake-up call!
Wake up America! We are on the road to becoming extinct in the world.
Maybe it is time to get more worried about the disappearance of America than that of the Moapa Dace.

After World War II when America became the premier power in the world, the nation made the mistake of becoming an imperialist nation on the model of 18th century England. Declaring ourselves the police, public health officers, and the setter of social standards for the world, America began to impose this country’s will on the world in a manner reminiscent of the hey days of England when the sun was never to set on the English Empire. America is now seeing itself slip into the same non-relevant position England is in the world today.

At home, America is slipping quickly into a recession which may well lead to a depression on the scale of the 1930’s. There is presently a great debate in Congress as to how to fund a country that is $3 trillion in debt.

This is not for the lack of taxation. Nearly half of everything an American citizen makes goes to one government agency or another through local, state, or federal taxes. The problem is the lack of discretion in spending the tax dollars available.

The government has not only resorted to blatantly printing money. We are now debating, and undoubtedly will raise the debt ceiling once again. When I was a youngster and I would go to my father for money for a project I thought necessary, he often replied: “Wait a minute! I will go into the backyard and pick it from the money tree.” I soon learned a lesson that our leadership now needs to learn. There is no money tree!

The problem is that inflation is running rampant throughout the country. The price of gas is in the hands of our enemies. While we have enough gas in the American ground to last this nation for over 300 years, we continue to rely on gas from countries who have vowed to destroy America. We need to stop financing our own destruction at the hands of our enemies.

We can talk of green energy all we want, but the reality is that until we come up with a viable alternative to gas powered vehicles we need to be tapping our own oil resources.

The president continues to tell the American people that the economy is sound and I think he really believes it. One must ask: When was the last time Joe Biden went to the grocery store? I am sure he rarely fills his own gas tank.

At this point I am no longer concerned with whose fault it is that this country is in a financial crunch and losing prestige around the world. I am interested in who can tell us how to cure the problem. It is too late to fix the blame; we need to fix the problem.

I must say that the two people who are leading each party give me little hope. The Democrat because of his programs and seemingly feeble mentality, and the Republican because of his egomaniacal personality.

No one asked me but… I have been looking at the CCSD school budget for the 2022-23 year. If you have an evening and the inclination, some fascinating figures can be viewed.

If you take the total district budget, and not just the operating budget, you will find that the District’s budget is $7,871,623,581 this year. The District anticipated there would be 294,680 students. If you divide these two figures, you find the District plans to spend $26,712 per student. That is not much less than the premier private school in Las Vegas which graduates 100% of its seniors.

Here is another interesting fact. The CCSD opened a new Family Support Center on Sept. 28, 2022. It offers students and families free ongoing support including workshops, classes, consultations and other resources to help students succeed in school. The center focuses its support and resources on the needs of, in the District’s language, “the newcomer” This is the District’s euphemism for an undocumented immigrant.

The Family Support Center includes an orientation program to the District which includes school expectations, policies, supports, and resources. It offers specialized programs focused on language, literacy development, college prep support, and higher education resources. The Center also provides further assistance to families including support with student registration, access to interpreters and translators in different languages to support communication and collaboration with schools, family workshops to support personal growth, and student learning at home, referrals to wraparound services, and health and wellness services. The Center is staffed with thirteen CCSD employees, none of which teach a single child. Apparently, it is the job of these people to help these “newcomers” adapt to the public-school setting in Clark County.

The Center provides healthcare, workforce development, mental health, and immigration support. CCSD Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara stated: “The Center will work with families and their students to remove barriers to access, and help address newcomer students’ social, physiological, emotional, and linguistic needs to promote academic success.”

To accomplish this, Dr. Jara created two director-level positions to support these undocumented students and their families in the District. While these may be beneficial they should not be funded with education dollars.

Before you accuse me of being xenophobic, let me state that since the federal government refuses to control immigration we need to educate those undocumented aliens allowed to remain in our country. These services to help address a students’ social, physiological, emotional, and linguistic needs to promote academic success need to be available. I merely do not believe most of them are the responsibility of the Clark County School District as it struggles to educate the student of our local legal residents.

I find it interesting that while the Center serves about the same number of students as are enrolled in our two valleys, the funding for this project far exceeds the total amount available for all eight schools in the Moapa and Virgin Valleys.

The services provided for students in this Center far exceed anything that addresses our resident student’s social, physiological, emotional, and linguistic needs in promoting their academic success.

If the District’s estimate of ten percent of the students in CCSD are undocumented (newcomers), that would mean that the District is educating or attempting to educate nearly 30,000 students who are not citizens of the United States let alone residents of Clark County. This requires the cost of at least twelve buildings, two hundred teachers, and a myriad of support programs in the District

Thought of the week… I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
― Groucho Marx