State will reward school innovation with $78 million

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005 | 9:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In January $78 million in state money will be infused into schools that propose innovative approaches to improving student performance.

The Nevada Commission on Educational Excellence made that decision Thursday, shortly after national figures showed Nevada's fourth and eighth graders were below the national average in reading and math proficiency.

Commission Chairwoman George Ann Rice said the panel must be open to "new thinking" by some of the local school districts.

"We don't want more of the same. We want to open this up," said Rice, Clark County School District associate superintendent for human resources.

Gov. Kenny Guinn had recommended to the 2005 Legislature that $100 million be set aside for improving schools. The commission was created to receive applications for the money, and $22 million was set aside for starting full-day kindergarten in the next school year.

Although the Legislature approved the money in June, Guinn didn't name the commission until shortly before the Oct. 1 deadline, and that pushed back decisions about the grants.

The commission will set up nine review teams for the applications that must be submitted to the state Education Department before Dec. 16.

Each review team will have one member from the commission and one Education Department employee. The third member has yet to be determined.

The review teams are to go over the applications from Jan. 3 to Jan. 6 to recommend funding. The full commission then has the final say on awarding the grants. The suggested per-pupil amount is $416.

Rice said she hoped the review teams would be "open to creativity."

It would be tragic if the teams only supported old ideas in education, she said.

The grants would be for an 18-month period, and the commission will have to report results to the 2007 Legislature.

Caroline McIntosh, White Pine County School District assistant superintendent, said Thursday that there needs to be an independent evaluation of the results, an external review of students' improvement.

Keith Rheault, state superintendent of public instruction, said he expects 450 of the 552 schools in Nevada will apply for a portion of the $78 million.

Under preliminary estimates, the elementary schools in Clark County would receive $21.6 million and the secondary schools $3.8 million. Those amounts are based on enrollment.

Commissioners said a report issued this week by the National Assessment of Educational Progress underscored the state's need for innovative approaches.

The report found that 21 percent of Nevada fourth graders were proficient in reading compared with the national average of 30 percent. It said 22 percent of Nevada's eighth graders were proficient in reading compared with the national average of 29 percent.

Nevada students also lagged in mathematics, with only 26 percent of fourth graders proficient compared with the national average of 35 percent, according to the report. At the eighth grade level, 21 percent of Nevada's students were proficient in math compared with 29 percent nationally.

Cy Ryan can be reached at (775) 687-5032 or at cy@lasvegassun.com.