Letter: College won’t solve teacher, nurse shortage

Monday, March 11, 2002 | 8:46 a.m.

The "state college" has been an ego and empire building exercise from its start. The teacher and nurse shortages in Nevada cannot and will not be solved by a new educational facility. However, the lack of teachers and nurses can be solved in the near future by improving their pay rather than waiting for four years for the expected graduates from the state college.

As long as teaching and nursing professionals can receive better starting pay, working conditions, and other benefits, i.e., career opportunities, new graduates will leave Nevada for better positions in other states. This has been true as well for teachers and nurses hired who leave Nevada and/or leave the profession because of the existing working conditions.

I am not aware of any study or needs assessment that addressed the rationale for the state college in Henderson. If the new college could graduate 1,000 teachers and an equal number of nurses fours years after they opened their doors (doubtful), Nevada would remain short of teachers and nurses. In addition, I doubt any school district or hospital would hire a thousand graduates from the same school, even assuming they were all in the top 5 percent of their class.

Dump the Henderson State College and redirect the money earmarked for this project into expanding and developing programs for teachers and nurses at University of Nevada at Las Vegas and Reno campuses.

DANIEL J. BELL