Through the summer, there have been petitions circulating all around Nevada—big ones, little ones, late ones, maligned ones, even ones that got left at the office after the deliveryman headed down to the registrar of voters.
Some made sense, such as the one mandating that Nevada fund its schools at the national per-pupil average. Some made none, such as petitions trying to repeal last year's tax increases necessary to get our state out of the mire of being last in all the good things and first in all the bad things. And some met halfway, like the proposal to slow down property-tax-rate increases instead of freezing them—a mistake California made more than 20 years ago and is paying dearly for today.
But there haven't been any strong petitions aimed at solving one of the problems that touches on everything: Quality of life. It would be broad based initiative, but one that covers education, a plan to guarantee Nevada's Youth good school funding and a future, as well.
At the UNLV graduation ceremony in May, I listened to Gov. Kenny Guinn gloat about the Millennium Scholarship, how this year's class was the first to benefit from it, and how all of this year's scholars got a pin to commemorate their accomplishment.
While my first instinct as someone who graduated high school in 1999—the year before the scholarship was first offered—was to groan at how the Millennium recipients not only get a free education, but a commemorative pin, too, Guinn's droning speech gave me time for some introspection. (Graduation ceremonies in Nevada are made for introspection. When was the last time you saw a Nevada graduation speaker on those highlight reels they run in May on the news? Penn—hell, even Teller—would have been a more exciting speaker.)
Even for a droning man, Guinn's Millennium Scholarship was genius. Nevada got a ton of free money and invested it directly back into its future. As the Guinness commercial says ... BRILLIANT!
Which leads me to one of the many petitions out and about this summer—the Education First initiative. Congressman Jim Gibbons' proposal was designed to prevent the Legislature from holding education hostage in order to fund other projects, as it did in 2003.
What Gibbons' proposal misses is that education isn't just about simply education, just as, much to everybody's surprise, college tuition today is about the tobacco industry—the origin of the Millennium scholarship, through lawsuit settlements.
Education is about the whole package. It's about the support the state provides to families in need. It's about the quality of life and extracurricular activities offered to Nevada's youth. It's about the museums and state parks Nevada operates. It's about the health care, the public safety, even the quality of the water they drink.
Sure, a kid can learn without the total package. But what is the quality of their education when they have to worry about quality of life? Look at all the young 'uns who failed the high-school proficiency tests and couldn't graduate. Perhaps they missed the memo that you have to have learned a bare minimum of stuff to get out of high school.
But maybe it's just that their learning experience wasn't whole, through no fault of their own. Maybe they are victims of Nevada being first in the bad things and worst in the good things. Maybe they fit the New York Times stereotype that Nevada high-schoolers just want to get done and park cars or serve cocktails.
Which is why the only way to truly put education first is to consider the entire package, from top to bottom. Forty years ago, fewer people lived in Nevada than live in just Henderson right now. Nevada is still playing catch-up, and will be for a long time.
To put education first, we need to sacrifice now to build the institutions and facilities that will allow this state to grow as a community, to provide Nevada's kids with the "total package" of growing up, because kids only spent 25 percent of their time in school—on a good week.
There are still a few petitions going around, thanks to some overzealous folks up in Reno and at the DMV. Before you make the ultimate decision at the ballot box this fall, think about what Nevada you want to see, what kind of Nevada you want to grow into and your kids to grow up in.
Do you want to see a low-tax haven for flunkies and cast-offs for out-of-town media to come in and pigeonhole every so often? Or do you want a Nevada that fulfills its promise to its youth, just like the Millennium Scholarship set the bar for young adults?