School district has stumbled on budget

To the editor:

The Clark County School District has wrongly handled the budget crisis. District officials have been telling the teachers union there will be 1,000 layoffs in order for them to meet their budget threshold. But, in turn, they have not conducted negotiations in a productive manner with teachers or others facing layoffs.

The district has been bluffing the teachers and others in jeopardized positions, trying to make them to forgo their pay raises. But last year there weren’t massive cutbacks, as forecasted by the School Board.

Then there was the May 16 School Board meeting, at which teachers showed up, and board members walked out because they didn’t want to hear what the teachers had to say. They then came back but wanted to call police.

In the future, School Board members need to handle a similar scene with a calmer demeanor – especially since teachers have free-speech rights. Plus, this isn’t how anyone should work out differences when so much is at stake.

The district’s handling of the budget crisis might remind some citizens of what’s going on in Washington, D.C., but on a different scale. Things need to be done in a more productive manner.

Bill Miller

Las Vegas

Burning empire

To the editor:

A plentiful array of facts depict the dismal performance of President Obama, and facts are a stubborn thing. At what point have we had enough of the failed policies of this president and his administration? The empire is burning, for God’s sake.

This president is incompetent for the task. America’s debt and expenditures are out of control. The housing market is in dismal shape. Unemployment is unbearable. The Keystone project must be approved. ObamaCare must be repealed. Drilling and oil production on federal lands must be permitted. Regulatory burdens must be abolished. The Bush tax cuts must be continued. The socialist policies that are killing America by a thousand cuts must be ended.

We must stand up and end the OPEC domination in the oil market. We must end our support of a corrupt United Nations. We must end our support of Pakistan and the government of Afghanistan. We must stand up to Russia and China.

Under Obama, America has been weakened on the world stage. We must maintain a strong national defense posture. We must support Israel in its efforts to survive the perils of a nuclear Iran.

And we must elect a president who has the intelligence and will to achieve these objectives.

Bob Jack

North Las Vegas