Education exists to “train a workforce.”

The Chamber of Commerce was instrumental in the fight to gain approval of WC 1, the measure to raise sales taxes in Washoe in order to fund the building of new school buildings and upgrades to some existing schools. As I have said on many occasions, the measure distinctly precluded the use of any of the funds for instructional purposes such as class size reduction. The business community came together to push the measure and I made it known that I knew that the intent of business in regard to schools was far different from my own, something obvious considering that the primary objective of business is to increase profit even if this means such things as keeping wages low and insuring that most people are susceptible to both their campaigns to sell their products and to their political ploys such as the benefit to communities that come with low wages, thus business’s fight against higher minimum wages, better worker benefits, and so on and so forth.

Today there appears in the Reno Gazette-Journal a half page add sponsored by the Chamber for an event titled “THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION: TRAINING A WORKFORCE. On May 18, ‘community leaders’ will gather to discuss “What is the Washoe County School District doing to prepare 65,000 students to meet local employers’ workforce needs?”

The Keynote speaker is Dr. Tony Slonmin, President and CEO of Renown Health, a man who recently invited a man to hold two days of seminars at Renown whose books tell parents that children are evil and need to be dealt with as such, a man named John Rosemond who writes a syndicated column carried by the RGJ.

The cost of attending is $100 and “sponsorship opportunities” are available at $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000. What is it that will be sponsored? NOT DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION.