Blame conditions at home for low-achieving children in Clark County School District

In her Saturday column, Review-Journal reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey pointed out that African-American students had the lowest reading proficiency scores in Clark County schools. She mentioned efforts to increase funding to help address the problem. But a few percentage points for black students ignores the fact that proficiency rates are way too low for all ethnic groups. Additional funding can’t solve the problem.

Education is such a disaster because of the impossible position the kids are in due to their backgrounds. Too many are brought up in poverty and in single-parent households. Many mothers are third-generation single parents with more children than they can support. When welfare was enacted more than 50 years ago, critics immediately argued it encouraged single motherhood. And, for more than 50 years, our politicians have ignored that huge flaw while poverty and the welfare rolls have grown.

We need to remedy that basic flaw in the law, support birth control (not reduce it for political reasons) and help educate single mothers. Until the useless politicians in Washington show some spine and actually solve some of our problems, the problem will only get worse.