Nevada Governor Suggests School Funding Cuts (NV)

January 26, 2011

Gov. Brian Sandoval wants to improve Nevada’s troubled schools whileslashing education spending.

His ambitious and conservative plan revealed Monday during his State of theState speech proposes rolling back education spending to 2007 levels, givingunproven educators the boot and eliminating statutory mandates requiringsmaller class sizes and other programs.

Education advocates and Democratic leaders call the plan the latest assaulton Nevada’s underperforming schools. How, they wonder, can Nevada boost itslagging graduation rates and test scores while cutting K-12 funding by nearly 6percent and higher education by nearly 18 percent?

The brewing battle over education dollars mirrors a national debate over therole of state funding versus teacher performance in student achievement.

To Sandoval and many conservative leaders, successful public schools are notabout how much government spends, but how it spends the money, while educationadvocates insist teachers can only do so much in overcrowded schools,especially with limited resources.

In Nevada, both sides are preparing to make their case as the NevadaLegislature attempts to close a budget gap of at least $1.2 billion this year.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford said Sandoval’s plandisproportionately affects middle class families who might not be able to affordprivate schools.

"It dismantles public education in Nevada," he said.

Sandoval named education among his many priorities in working to healNevada. The state has the highest unemployment, bankruptcy and foreclosurerates in the nation.

"Education reform is the linchpin to a solid return on ourinvestment," he said during his speech Monday.

But critics have painted his plan as a commitment to dumbing down Nevada.

He wants to reduce K-12 funding by $270 per pupil and raid school reservesby $425 million to defray the costs of overall education spending.

He has asked lawmakers to eliminate statutory requirements for class sizereduction, early childhood education, at-risk kindergarten and other programsat the cost of about $325 million. That money, he s aid, would instead bedistributed in a block grant program to be used at the discretion of schooldistricts.

Effective educators should earn more money than their less productivecounterparts, Sandoval said. He would end teacher tenure and social promotion ofstudents, enhance private school voucher programs and reward the best teachersand principals.

Sandoval’s staff said the administration has yet to detail the proposedteacher evaluation system.

The outlook is worse for the state’s community colleges and universities.Under Sandoval’s proposal, their funding would drop by 17.6 percent.

In a bright spot, Sandoval wants to direct $10 million toward Nevada’sMillennium Scholarship Program

Sandoval said he wished he could spend more on education, but Nevada’seconomic reality prevents that.

"Where are you going to get it?" he said. "Who are you goingto tax?"

Numerous education reports show Nevada’s schools are a mess.

Nevada students underperform in every subject compared to national averages,according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of EducationSciences.

Nevada ranked last in averaged freshman graduate rates, at 52 percent. Thenational average was 73.9. Only 11 other states and the District of Columbiahad rates below 70 percent, according to the federal education department.

Nevada earned a "D," the lowest grade possible, in EducationWeek’s most recent school finance report, which looks at district funding,local property wealth and per student funding. The state’s overall grade was a"C-."

Alison Turner, president of the Nevada Parent Teacher Association, saidSandoval’s proposal to improve schools while reducing funding is "a prettymajor step backward."

"I wish it could work that way," said Turner, who has one child inmiddle school and another at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Minorities make up more than 57 percent of Nevada’s students and nearly 40percent of its student are from low-income families, according to EducationWeek.

Education research has come to mixed conclusions as to whether state fundingfuels student achievement.

The conservative Heritage Foundation and the liberal Center for AmericanProgress have each published studies that claim how the money is spent, not howmuch, is what counts.

Utah, for example, has very low per pupil funding but its students outpacethe national average when it comes to graduation rates.

But critics counter that while more money might not be the right solution,there is no research that shows fewer dollars is a reasonable answer.

Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, said Sandoval’seducation model could result in larger class sizes and less individualizedattention for students. Good teachers would have few incentives to joinNevada’s education system, he said.

"To say these ideas are going to improveachievement is just a hope," Jennings said. "There is no solidevidence that they well."