Governor’s vacation delays appointments

Friday, Aug. 1, 1997 | 9:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller, off on a vacation of a week to 10 days with his family, has missed his self-imposed deadline to name the new state Council on Academic Standards.

The council is an integral part of the educational reform package aimed at raising the academic achievement of public school students.

When he signed Senate Bill 482, the governor said he would have his four appointments to the nine-member council no later than last week.

"He feels most of them are firmed up. He wants to do it en mass when he announces them," Miller's spokesman Richard Urey said.

The selections will be disclosed sometime this month.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, each name two members of the council, but have not yet done so.

"We're working on it," said Dini, who hopes to have his choices made early next week. Raggio could not be reached for comment.

The president of the state Board of Education is an automatic member.

Two of those named by Miller must be parents of children attending the public schools and two must be licensed schoolteachers or other educators. The law says they should reflect the ethnic and geographical diversity of the state.

Raggio and Dini must each name one member from their respective houses in the Legislature, with the second selection from private industry.

Urey said the governor will be "calling people from the road and we hope to have an announcement by the end of next week. A lot of people are very interested."

Urey said the governor wants to get a strong chairman for the group who will play an important part in the educational reform package forged by Miller and Raggio.

The council must submit its recommendations on performance standards for students by September 1998 for mathematics, science and English, which includes reading, composition and writing.

The second deadline is Sept. 1, 1999, for standards in social studies, computer education, the arts and health and physical education.

The Miller family, according to Urey, is heading for the Florida coast.

"He and Sandy (Mrs. Miller) are both scuba divers. Both have been certified in the last couple of years."