Big issues are all about people: Education

Ed Koch and Emily Richmond

Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006 | 8:06 a.m.

With Nevada's public schools trailing much of the rest of the country in everything from student performance to education funding, office-seekers face a host of daunting challenges.

Nevada ranks at or near the bottom nationally in funding, student achievement, low percentage of graduates and high percentage of high school dropouts.

While candidates ponder solutions, some of them disagree as to whether federal programs created to address those issues, such as No Child Left Behind, are effective.

"That's a plan that is doomed to failure, and it's also underfunded," said Jack Carter, son of former president Jimmy Carter and the Democratic candidate for Nevada's U.S. Senate seat held by Republican John Ensign.

"The first thing is that it has a standard no one can ever make," Carter said. "That is, everyone has to be at the national norm by 2012. It forces teachers to focus almost exclusively on those who are behind. I have not talked to one teacher in this state who likes this thing."

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., says the No Child Left Behind Act, now in its fourth year, has made school accountability "more transparent. It's allowing parents to have a better idea how their schools are doing and how their children are doing. We need to make sure we find additional funding - continue to fund it, but at a higher level."

No Child Left Behind changes

Ensign said when No Child Left Behind comes up for reauthorization next year there need to be changes in how the progress of students is measured, especially for states with transient populations such as Nevada.

Under the current formula, poor performance by one child who enters a new school and is behind brings down the status of the entire class - a class that otherwise might have shown excellent statistical improvement from previous years.

Ensign proposes changing procedures to better reflect that improvement.

Along with the rest of Nevada's congressional delegation, Ensign and Porter pushed successfully in 2004 to ensure that the state's share of federal education funding for its poorest students was calculated using only the most recent census figures.

The change increased Clark County's share of federal aid by $9.5 million.

In recent years, Nevada has sought to put a price tag on solving its education woes.

In 2005, the state's 17 school districts and the Nevada Department of Education teamed up on the iNVest plan, a comprehensive package of recommended expenditures aimed at improving graduation rates, reducing dropout rates and closing the achievement gap for minorities. The price tag was hefty - more than $646 million for the biennium. Nearly half of the requests were granted, including an increase in basic student support.

A similar bid will be made in 2007, when school districts push for weighted per-pupil funding for English Language Learners, a plan to give more money to schools that address the needs of immigrant students, funding for full-day kindergarten programs and more incentives for teachers who work in at-risk schools.

Full-day kindergarten to get boost

Last year, Gov. Kenny Guinn set aside $100 million for special programs aimed at improving public education, with $22 million earmarked for full-day kindergarten.

Porter said states that want to expand full-day kindergarten programs should receive federal funding . He has also been an aggressive supporter of career and technical education, calling it essential to the future success of both Nevada's students and the state as a whole.

"We need their skills and their talents," Porter said.

Clark County is one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing school districts, adding about 10,000 students each year, many of them Hispanic.

In Clark County, 21 percent of K-12 students are English language learners, compared with 17 percent statewide and 8 percent nationally. And many of them are from poor families. Yet Nevada is one of just 12 states that do not provide schools with additional funding for each English language learner student enrolled.

Democratic candidate for governor Dina Titus, a UNLV professor and longtime Nevada legislator, said if more money can be allocated for students who live in homes where English is a second language, then after-school English classes may be the way to go.

On national standardized tests used by the federal government , Nevada's students continue to lag.

In a 2005 test of fourth graders' reading abilities, more than 60 percent of black and Hispanic students tested below the basic level ; 35 percent of white students failed to crack the threshold for basic achievement.

Ensign said the language issue has to be addressed for the parents who also are learning to speak English.

"If parents cannot help their children with their homework, the children could get behind ," he said. "One of my proposals as part of the immigration reform bill is if a temporary worker becomes proficient in English he gets an extra year in the temporary worker program."

High school grad rate 65 percent

The high school graduation rate in Nevada stands at 65 percent - 60 percent in Clark County - and the dropout rate is 5.7 percent statewide and 7.1 percent in Clark County.

Tessa Hafen, who has recently worked as a substitute teacher and is the Democratic opponent of Porter, said she supports smaller classroom sizes. She says about $8,000 is spent on each student nationally, but Nevada spends only $5,000 per student.

"The federal government is vastly underfunding schools," Hafen said, adding that she too favors more technical and trade schools .

Jim Gibbons, the Republican candidate for governor, says he'll increase teacher salaries, although he hasn't offered specifics.

Also, he said in August that he believes in a school voucher program that would allow parents to opt out of public schools, although he hasn't laid out specifics on that plan, either.

Gibbons wants fewer remedial students in the state's universities. He would use the SAT or another test as a new hurdle to winning a Millennium Scholarship. He would direct money to vocational and community colleges.

Proficiency exam pass rate up

On the plus side, more Nevada high school students are passing the state's high school proficiency exam, a requirement for a diploma, and enrollment in higher education continues to climb.

Freshmen at Nevada's four-year colleges returned at a 72 percent rate, compared with 77 percent nationally. Just 45 percent of students at UNLV and UNR earn a four-year degree within six years of beginning their studies.

The poor education statistics are reflected in the workplace. Nevada ranks ahead of just Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Mississippi for having the nation's least educated workforces, according to the Education Trust, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.

Just over a quarter of Nevada's workers have at least an associate's degree, while 19 percent have at least a bachelor's degree.

And Nevada ranks dead last for the educational attainment of its younger workers - ages 25 to 34 - with 23.3 percent holding at least an associate's degree and 17 percent earning at least a bachelor's degree.