New bill targets Nevada schools

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2001 | 10:11 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada will get more federal money for schools with high percentages of poor students as part of a final agreement on a sweeping new education bill, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said.

The House and Senate are expected to approve the final version of the reform bill and President Bush is expected to sign it, possibly next week. Included in the legislation is a provision introduced by Ensign that is designed to help fast-growing states such as Nevada.

At issue are federal funds called Title I money earmarked for schools with high percentages of students from low-income families.

Congress has been increasing Title I funding nationwide. Nevada got about $23.7 million in Title I money for the 2000 fiscal year; about $32.3 million in 2001 and will get an estimated $41.7 million in 2002. Fiscal years begin Oct. 1.

But perhaps more significantly, the Ensign legislation requires the Departments of Education and Commerce to begin counting low-income students in schools every year -- instead of every other year. That means the federal money will increase each year at an even faster rate, keeping pace with the actual number of low-income students.

In addition, states that are losing population could lose a portion of the money they received, according to the bill.

"We're excited we're finally going to be getting a little more fair share of the pie," Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said.

Because Congress is spending more on Title I, coupled with Ensign's high-growth legislation, Nevada can expect to see similar increases in Title I funding -- roughly $9 million a year -- in the next few years, Ensign aides said.

Ensign initially pitched his plan in his first speech on the Senate floor in March.

"The theme of President Bush's education plan is 'No Child Left Behind,' " Ensign had said then. "But under the current system, children are getting left behind in fast-growing states like Nevada -- and the president's plan does not adequately address the problem."

Ensign was tapped by Republican leaders to serve on the 39-member panel of House and Senate negotiators who hammered out the details of the education bill, which allowed him to fight to preserve his legislation as the final bill was being crafted.

The House-Senate panel has been meeting since the summer. A behind-the-scenes skirmish over Ensign's legislation developed between lawmakers from fast-growing states and those from states losing population, Ensign said. But Ensign, who had sought out help from other senators from high-growth states, won enough support to keep the language in the bill, he said.

"I went to the other senators," Ensign said. "We said this is really something we care passionately about."