Guinn’s K-12 proposals get mixed reviews

Terry Webster

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are being cautiously optimistic about Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposed budget increases for K-12 education.

Guinn Monday unveiled plans to boost funding for teacher training, textbooks and technology, along with a one-time, 5 percent cash bonus for teachers and support staff.

"Over the past five years, we have raised the academic bar for our children," said Guinn. "In doing so, we have also raised the bar for our teachers. We've demanded accountability, as we should, but we haven't given them the tools they need to perform at the level we demand -- the training, the technology and the textbooks."

The state spending plan includes a $98 million increase for K-12 education, in addition to $75 million of one-shot funding. Combined with $134 million for higher education, Guinn's budget represents a 13 percent increase over the last biennium.

"All in all, we came out better than we anticipated," Superintendent Carlos Garcia said following Guinn's State of the State address. "It's a good start. The only thing that's left is to work on long-range funding. My only concern is that the ongoing problems don't go away. We've got to find permanent funding for those."

School Board President Mary Beth Scow and board member Sheila Moulton echoed Garcia's concerns about the need for future planning.

"It's much higher than what we expected," Moulton said. "I just hope there aren't any cuts in there, too. Plus, we really need a cost-of-living increase in our budget and for our teachers."

Guinn said that next to parents and families, teachers are the most important influence in children's lives.

"We haven't made a sufficient commitment to teachers for a livable salary that matches the vital role they play in our society," Guinn said. "As a result we are losing an unacceptable number of teachers to other states and other professions."

But Clark County Education Association officials said one-time bonuses are not enough.

"If this is a way of saying thank you, then that's all it was," said Sue Strand, the teacher's union president.

The district has a hard time keeping teachers, said Strand, because of low salaries, a lack of training and inexperience in dealing with the issues facing urban school districts.

John Jasonek, executive director for the teacher's union, questioned why Guinn's budget provides for raises for state workers -- 8 percent over two years -- but not teachers.

And he balked at Guinn's contention that the proposed state college in Henderson will produce quality teachers for Clark County.

"All we are going to be is a training center," Jasnoek said. "They will stay here a year and then go somewhere else to earn more money. If we want to begin to fix the problem, we need to put the money on the salary schedule."

Jasonek called the proposal for $20 million to maintain class size ratios a "shell game to put more students in the classroom."

The plan takes into consideration a pilot program in Elko County that provided flexibility in state-mandated classroom sizes.

Moulton said that flexibility could be beneficial, depending on the makeup of a school's student population.

"Some schools are so at-risk that we need to keep (class size) low," Moulton said. "But in other schools, maybe 20 kids would not be too much for a very well-seasoned, fourth grade teacher, for example."

Guinn in his speech established reading as a priority and announced "a new statewide goal -- that all Nevada children be able to read by the end of the third grade."

The goal echoes what Garcia has been saying in recent months.

"Not everyone is learning to read by the end of the first grade," Garcia said. "We want to have everyone reading on grade level by the end of third grade."

Guinn allocated $10 million for a teaching training program for reading techniques that research has proven to be effective. Additionally, he plans to increase funding for teacher training centers, which also focus on reading, by $4 million.

Guinn also addresses technology and the purchase of new textbooks with a $20 million allocation.

"Nevada students can't be expected to achieve more and work harder when they can't even take their school books home," Guinn said.

An $8 million allocation for early childhood education and $7 million for remediation efforts in low-performing schools also are included in Guinn's proposal.