Letter: Instead of rebate, give children a better education

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 9:07 a.m.

The governor wants to give $300 million back to Nevadans who registered their cars in 2004. Meanwhile, the Children's Advocacy Alliance failed the state in almost every category relating to our children (no surprises there). What's wrong with this picture?

Here's a solution that doesn't require endless paid-for studies, unending legislative jawboning, or miles and miles of red tape and bureaucracy. Forget the auto rebate and spend the $300 million on putting more teachers in our classrooms and pay them better.

I am sure most of us have already considered those auto registration fees as money long gone, and we had no contemplation of ever seeing it again. So we aren't missing it any more. Let's invest it in making this a more livable state, a state that cares about our children, a state that trains our children to be productive and creative Nevadans in the future, rather than get a few, quickly spent dollars back from the state.

If politicians need the glory of saying they returned taxes to the people and insist that the money be sent back to Nevada's drivers, so be it. Let's each of us take that check and immediately endorse it over to our schools with the requirement that it be spent on reduction of class size and higher pay scales for teachers. That only requires passing one bill and then the people take control of improving the state. Something that the pols seem incapable of.

Let's do right by our children. How many chances will we get at a windfall that can help them?

ROBERT MIRISCH