Letter: Public must support services

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 | 10:28 a.m.

As the 2003 Legislature is about to begin, I encourage support of Gov. Kenny Guinn's call for increased funding for education, health care and social services.

National reports indicate that Nevada is nearly last in funding per pupil for public education. Thus, we have one of the nation's highest high school dropout rates.

Even though some school districts recruit teachers from across the country, due to an inadequate salary structure we seem to always lack sufficient quality teachers.

In health care, it is estimated that upwards of 80,000 children and their families have no or insufficient health care coverage. This is a foundational issue: affordable, accessible health care means illness prevention care that would improve performance of students at school and parents at work.

More and more of our social service care is falling to the responsibility of church organizations such as Lutheran Social Services of Nevada, Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army, the Las Vegas Catholic Worker, etc. Those who support these services also pay taxes, but the remainder of the community needs to contribute, at least through taxes, and shoulder their share of the care.

Gov. Guinn should be supported and encouraged for his efforts to cover the needs of more children and increase, not decrease, Medicaid funding, which provides health care to persons in poverty. If the people of Nevada are proud of their state, they need to participate in all these programs, including increased taxes, and move us beyond being last in the nation in caring for people.

THE REV. PHIL HAUSKNECHT

Editor's note: The writer is president of the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Nevada.