State hires one more education consultant

Friday, March 27, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- To help it with the public school reform package, a legislative committee Thursday voted to hire a private consultant, the latest in a long list that are being employed by state government in the field of education.

The Legislative Committee on Education awarded a $20,000 contract to Eugene Paslov, former state superintendent of public instruction.

Gov. Bob Miller earlier this month employed former staffer Catherine Cunningham for up to $18,000 to represent him during the setting of higher academic standards for public schools.

It's been a growing trend in Nevada's educational system to pay for outside advice -- usually from out-of-state consultants.

For instance, the newly created state Council to Establish Academic Standards hired the Council on Basic Education of Washington, D.C., for $136,760 and Paslov for $5,000.

The state Commission on Educational Technology has WestEd of San Francisco on a $135,000 contract to help write an educational technology plan.

The state Department of Education has more than $2 million worth of contracts with private consultants.

The legislative committee received three bids for the job and chose Paslov, partially because he submitted the low bid to assess reports from local school districts and make suggestions on how they can improve.

Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, expressed alarm that there's been a breach of security in keeping a national test confidential.

Raggio, chairman of the legislative education committee, told Washoe County School officials that anybody who leaked the test should "be fired without a hearing." He later amended that to say they should be fired with only a short hearing.

Dotty Merrill, coordinator of testing services for Washoe County schools, said there's an investigation underway that security may have been breached at one of the 57 elementary schools in Washoe County.

Keith Rheault, deputy state superintendent of public instruction, said he was notified by Washoe County that an elementary teacher may have copied the test.

Merrill said the investigation should be completed by April 15 and it will be up to the state Department of Education and the attorney general's office to take action.