State ready to ‘make a deal’ for teachers

Art Nadler

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998 | 11:13 a.m.

Nevada educators have decided to adopt "The Price Is Right" attitude in their efforts to attract new teachers to the Silver State.

If the Board of Regents follows Tuesday's recommendations from the Regents Initiative for Teacher Education Task Force, the state may soon alleviate its elementary- and secondary-teacher shortage.

Representatives from UNLV, the Community College of Southern Nevada, the Clark County School District and the University of Nevada, Reno agreed to pool their efforts to fill a 1,300-teacher shortfall plaguing schools throughout the state.

Students majoring in education classes in the fall of 1999 could receive as much as a 50 percent tuition discount if they enroll in a loan-forgiveness program and agree to remain in Nevada and teach.

In addition, according to Jane Nichols, vice chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada, the state is considering waiving out-of-state tuition fees for education majors.

"The difference would be $3,500 a year for out-of-state students," Nichols said. "We will give in-state status to all (education) students."

Currently, Nichols said, Nevada residents pay $2,200 per college semester.

The regents will vote on these proposals at their Nov. 19-20 meeting in Reno. If approved, it will go before the 1999 Legislature.

Nichols said the Legislature will be asked to approve $3 million to start up the new program. That would pay for mentor programs and smaller classrooms. The price tag on the tuition break would depend on how many students took the state up on the offer.

"I think this is wonderful," Thalia Dondero, chairwoman of the task force, said. "Everyone here is real thrilled, and they are willing to sit down together and solve these problems."

UNLV is expected to graduate about 900 education majors in 2002-03, Dondero said. But most astonishing, she felt, was CCSN enrollment figures this year. The college has 561 education majors -- up from 82 a year ago.