Expand the ‘Read By Third Grade’ program

Why Reading by 3rd is Critical to Clark County’s Future

A kid who can’t read by the 3rd grade at a 3rd grade level, will usually not graduate High School. Such a kid will fall further and further behind and will usually drop out of school and fall into a criminal life. Most criminals serving long sentences don’t have a High-School Education.

Kids who read make better decisions in life and are not easily influenced by kids on the street, criminals or drug dealers. Reading at an early age creates law abiding citizens and safer communities in the long run. We can’t just arrest everyone who commits a crime or make our laws so laxed that only murders are behind bars. Reading is the long-term answer to keeping crime manageable.

As you can see, getting kids to read by the 3rd grade adequately not only creates safer communities, it increases higher education because it prepares kids for college. Higher Education will help diversify our economy. And, safer communities will retain graduates from UNLV who are Doctors and other professionals because no professional will want to start their career nor raise a family in a community that is not safe and has bad schools.

The Problem with Getting Kids to Read by 3rd Grade: More School funding is not the ANSWER!

Unfortunately, legislators in Carson City allocating more money to schools is not the solution. Nevada’s law makers in Carson City can’t tell school boards how to spend the money they allocate for schools. Allocated money hardly reaches teacher’s salaries let alone resources kids need to read. More funding for schools is not the easy answer

We need an ALTERNATIVE pathway to get our kids to read.

My Plan to get more kids reading

We will create legislation to fund pre-school reading programs into parks, libraries, malls and churches. I will also start a campaign to tell parents, especially immigrant parents (The Latino and other Communities) that if their kids can’t read by 3rd grade adequately they will not benefit from the American Dream.

I will work with groups like Reading is Fundamental, the NFL Raiders, Law Enforcement and other groups to promote the message: “A kid who can’t read by 3rd grade adequately will not get the American Dream”.

I will work with organizations that donate books to under privileged kids to get books in their hands, make sure their parents understand the importance of reading by the 3rd grade and create book drives where companies can donate books to such organizations. Companies will see that as an investment in their future because in will create safe communities which are good for business.