Editorial: Taking a few risks

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006 | 7:14 a.m.

In the first two weeks of the school year, Clark County School District's "empowerment schools" are showing themselves to be a clear break from how schools have operated here in the past.

The pilot project being employed at four schools gives greater autonomy to principals, giving them the authority to hire and fire all staff, from teachers to custodians, and gives them greater authority over how money is budgeted and spent at their schools. In exchange, the principals face stricter accountability standards.

The thinking behind this approach to education is that this should help lead to innovation and an improvement in academic achievement.

According to a recent story by the Las Vegas Sun, this experiment is costing about $600 more per student, which translates into about $1.68 million for the 2,800 pupils enrolled at the four schools. The money pays for the five extra school days that are needed and also gives principals a 5 percent raise for their added responsibilities. Teachers end up making a bit more too, as they are working an extra half-hour each school day, the Sun reports.

Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes is so certain this model will be a success that he is already planning how to ask the Nevada Legislature when it convenes in February to fund the program at 40 more schools. Although test scores won't yet be available, Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, told the Sun that other early indicators of success include teacher morale and student attendance. Parnell, who co-chairs the Legislature's Education Committee, said lawmakers "will want to hear all about those areas."

One parent-teacher association president told the Sun that teachers and students seem genuinely eager to be in school, and the air of teamwork is almost tangible. Teachers at one school meet early each day to collaborate on lesson plans. Another school is using the last class on Fridays for student electives.

Additional family activities, seeking more input from parents and making the schools neighborhood community centers are the focus at these schools and are the kinds of education changes that Nevada lawmakers have said they want to see, Rulffes told the Sun.

It could take a year or two to definitively measure the outcome, but we think this program is heading down the right road. Unless Rulffes gains state funding for expanding this program in 2007, he will have to wait until the next legislative session in 2009 to ask. Our students shouldn't have to wait four years for innovations that are long overdue.

Education is a risky business that takes courage and creativity. The Legislature should be willing to fund this program and its expansion - without taking money from conventional schools and pupils. Our schools need a change, but we won't know what changes work unless we support and fund them.