Editorial: Panel imposes on probe

Monday, July 31, 2000 | 8:04 a.m.

The Nevada Legislature, like other state legislatures, frequently gets into the bad habit of forcing local government to accept unfunded mandates. The Legislature has done the same thing with public schools in the form of curriculum requirements that bog down teachers and administrators.

Assembly Education Committee Chairman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, now wants his fellow lawmakers to get involved in an ongoing investigation of alleged cheating on standardized tests in the Clark County School District. We like his suggestion that teachers who wish to cooperate with investigators be granted immunity from punishment in exchange for testimony. We think immunity should be applied particularly to educators and other witnesses who are themselves innocent and merely passing along information.

We believe it would be premature at this time, however, for Williams' committee to get involved in this issue. There has been criticism about the pace of the school district's deliberations following the initial disclosure in June by former Lake Elementary fourth grade teacher Ramona Johnson that sharp differences in student test scores occurred from one year to the next.

But if there are security breaches related to these tests, we believe the problems ought to be ironed out by the school district. It is true that the district needs to correct any such problems in a timely manner. But this is clearly a local issue.

A legislative committee should not get involved in a local issue unless invited to do so by the local government or school district. One danger of unwarranted legislative involvement is that a solution that works in Clark County may not be applicable to small, rural schools such as in Elko.

Williams' committee could do a better job of serving public education by lending a hand without burdening school districts with unfunded mandates. By the time we get to the bottom of this alleged test cheating, Williams may be surprised to learn that the Legislature may have inadvertently been a part of the problem.