Legacy of service Veteran’s family has long military history
Tbranches of Clifford Smith’s military family tree took centuries to come into focus. The retired chief master sergeant and Vietnam War veteran kept meticulous track of the 30 years, eight months and seven days he spent in the Air Force serving his country.
The Las Vegas resident also was aware that his father, uncles and four brothers had all served in various branches of the military. And he obviously knew that his two kids — a daughter and a son — and two of his grandchildren had enlisted in the Air Force.
But it wasn’t until a decade ago that he discovered his family military lineage extended all the way to the Revolutionary War.
All told, he said, more than 30 members of his family have served their country since its founding.
“I’m a patriot first,” Smith said. “It’s something to be proud of.”
Saturday is Armed Forces Day, and for Smith the third Saturday in May is a day to remember the sacrifices that his family and countless others have made, including those being made by the current generation of service members.
‘Showing respect’
“It’s about showing respect for men and women who gave their all for this country,” he said. “And respecting what the military has gone through, past and present.”
Smith, 77, joined the Air Force just a week
na tax to education as an additional funding source. This would boost spending by $120 million over the biennium, adding $120 and $124 to the current average per-pupil amounts of $6,052 in 2020 and $6,116 in 2021.
The casualty: school safety improvements, which the pot tax was originally going to pay for under Gov. Steve Sisolak’s original budget proposal. That $54 million plan was cut by over $30 million.
An amendment to AB309 would allow counties to impose an additional 0.25 percent sales tax. That money could be used for early childhood education, adult education, truancy prevention, homelessness or affordable housing initiatives or incentives to recruit and retain teachers.
The amendment also would free up categorical money currently earmarked for technology and other initiatives to enable districts to use it as they wish. In Clark County, that would mean $13 million in unrestricted funds.
All in all, Nevada only took a few baby steps forward this week in the 5K race to adequately fund education.
Education funding supporters were dismayed on Thursday when legislators again failed to keep revenue from a 3- percent room tax hike passed in 2009 in a supplemental account for education. Instead, that money was shifted to replace other education revenues.
The reality: If legislators had kept it in the supplemental account, it would have left another multimillion-dollar hole in the state budget.
But how do you fund raises, boost school safety and begin to reach an adequate per-pupil amount without raising new revenue? You don’t, and if you don’t — well, something has to give.
“I think with aggressive action here we might be able to move into and through the next biennium without the most draconian cuts out in our school districts,” said Chris Daly of the Nevada State Education Association. “But it seems to me that the state, without some additional new revenue, is going to eventually hit a wall.”
Contact Amelia Pak-harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @Ameliapakharvey on Twitter. On Education appears every other Saturday.