Nevada made the news because they had their first female majority leader presiding over lawmakers; the local paper was quick to praise how much they got done. This is common among liberals who feel they can legislate feelings and measure success based on government action, but Nevada liberals and those around the country should instead consider the consequences of their actions amounting to nothing more than empty rhetoric praising women.
Just in matters of education they passed many bills that will actually compound the problems instead of solving them. The problems largely include low standards and cost overruns. Notwithstanding passing the largest tax increase in state history just a few years ago, the teachers demand more raises despite studies finding they are generally overpaid.
The legislature actually made it tougher for teachers to get raises by repealing reforms. Under the guise of fair pay for hard work, they increased the “prevailing wages” which schools must pay for construction. This is estimated to increase wages from 20 to 70 dollars an hour and cost an extra one billion per year in construction costs. But the liberals “did something” so I suppose we shouldn’t consider how they just exploded school construction costs.
Instead of reconsidering their padding of union wallets, they relied on the first and last resort of liberals: to tax and spend more. On top of the philosophic bankruptcy behind this thinking, they raised taxes illegally! The Nevada constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the legislature which Democrats didn’t have. But it gets even worse! Somebody in the legislature must have failed at math (though they got an A in irony), because they didn’t illegally raise enough taxes to cover the extra money needed for the raises. But hey, the female legislatures “did something,” so we should be proud.
Many parents can sense that something is wrong with the school, and they try to escape the public school monopoly. But the legislature did something and capped the number of students that could get scholarships to private schools.
The end result of these actions was more money for construction and teacher unions via higher taxes, less money for school choice, less accountability, and less freedom. But the media and the public in general is more concerned with female Democrats “doing a lot” than examining the effects of their legislation. As we enter a heated election season it is important to look beyond the rhetoric of politicians trying to “save us” and instead consider how they are really just advancing their agenda. It is even more important to look past the gender and color of the person making these policy proposals (such as AOC’s habit of doing) and consider their actual effects.
