Smaller student-teacher ratio endorsed

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Gov. Bob Miller's goal to reduce third-grade student-teacher ratios stands an excellent chance of being approved by the 1997 Legislature after gaining only partial support two years ago.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, joined the Democratic governor at a news conference Tuesday in Las Vegas expressing confidence that GOP lawmakers will back Miller's plan.

Speaking at Dailey Elementary School, Miller outlined his third-grade goal and the other four planks of an education platform for kindergarten through 12th grade. The price tag for taxpayers would be $64.6 million over the next two years, more than half of which would come from the state's $222 million budget surplus.

"We have some outstanding graduates that come out of this (education) system," Miller said. "But my job is not just to be a cheerleader for those who do well. It's also to find areas where we need to improve."

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus and Assemblyman Wendell Williams, both D-Las Vegas, and each with a professional background in education, also endorsed the plan. But Rawson, a community college instructor, provides an important endorsement because of his clout with Republicans.

"We're very pleased to see this type of package sent to us in the Legislature," Rawson said. "My hat's off to the governor."

In one of the biggest political fights of the 1995 Legislature, some Senate Republicans offered strong resistance to Miller's goal of providing a teacher for every 16 Nevada third-graders. Critics argued the state couldn't afford that student-teacher ratio and even questioned whether it would significantly improve education.

A compromise was reached to provide partial funding, giving the state a ratio of one teacher per 22 third-graders. Miller's plan to complete the reduction down to a 16-to-one ratio would go into effect in fiscal 1999 at a cost of $18.1 million.

"By taking it incrementally, it will be easier to pass," Rawson said. "I don't think we could afford it all in one chunk."

Led by Miller, the state has achieved ratios of one teacher per 16 students in the first and second grades. But Mary Peterson, state superintendent of public instruction, said about 40 percent of those students are in classrooms where there are 32 pupils and two teachers.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he supports reducing the third-grade ratio to 16-to-one, but added it is "very costly." The ratio is deceiving if 32 students are packed into one classroom, he added.

"I have serious questions unless you're going to find physical classrooms," Raggio said.

The governor also wants to provide five computers to each Nevada classroom over the next six years. The state now has one computer for every 25 students, compared with a one-in-nine ratio nationwide, Miller said. Almost two-thirds of Nevada teachers have no access to the Internet.

"We feel that by doing this, we can place Nevada in a premier position," Miller said. "I want to provide every classroom with the ability to learn better."

Miller also proposed establishing a council to set higher standards for student achievement, adding a science exam to the fourth- and eighth-grade test batteries and making school districts more accountable for poor student performance.

"Students should know by the third grade how to read, and by the fourth grade they should know multiplication and division," he said. "Those are not requirements, but that must change."