School officials, Gibbons not on same page

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, Feb. 19, 2007 | 12:26 p.m.

The already strained relationship between the state's schools superintendents and Gov. Jim Gibbons has taken a turn for the snarky.

It was triggered when, in a newspaper article, the governor said his controversial plan to end $60 million in teacher incentives came at the behest of school superintendents.

No way, the superintendents say. In their brash retort, the superintendents publicly suggested the governor's reading comprehension skills were sub-par.

Who's to say what the next round will bring?

The exchange illustrates the worsening relations between the new governor and school district bosses.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Gibbons said he was puzzled by criticism of his proposal that $60 million in funds used for retirement credits for teachers be used instead to help schools operate more independently.

In the Feb. 13 story about how he would fund his so-called empowerment schools, published in the Nevada Appeal, Gibbons said, "We're only doing what they (the state's school districts) had recommended. And I find it unusual that perhaps they haven't read or they're ignoring their own recommendations."

Those remarks drew speedy sarcasm from the state's superintendents and school board associations.

"We are pleased to see that he's read at least a few lines in iNVest," Carson City Schools Superintendent Mary Pierczynski wrote, referring to a funding proposal submitted to the Legislature by the state's 17 school districts. "But he clearly missed the sentence a little farther down on the same page that states, 'Superintendents and school trustees suggest the dollars currently in use to pay for the retirement credit benefit be recaptured and redirected to provide funding for the teaching incentives.' "

The superintendents had complained that Gibbons didn't refer to their iNVest plan in his State of the State address, or in subsequent discussions of his education proposals.

In an interview Friday, Pierczynski said she did not regret the press release's pointed wording.

"We felt it was necessary to clarify the issue," Pierczynski said. "We welcome any opportunity to speak with the governor and we are anxious to work with him. Hopefully, that will happen."

Melissa Subbotin, press secretary for Gibbons, said the governor was aware that superintendents were annoyed with him.

"Certainly, they are very passionate about education issues in this state, and we have said numerous times we are committed to working with them," Subbotin said.

Gibbons met with "several people" about the teacher retirement credit program and was told it wasn't an effective means of recruiting or retaining teachers, she said.

The tensions between the superintendents and the governor's office are all the more puzzling given that one of the governor's key advisers recommended working closely with the superintendents.

In a Dec. 21 memo, Scott Craigie, a Gibbons education adviser, reminded Patty Wade, co-director of Gibbons' transition teams, that the state's superintendents would be meeting Jan. 4 in Las Vegas.

"I can tell you from my own personal experience, this is one of the very best sources of feedback, as well as a critical launching point for sharing news of new initiatives than governors can get in almost any other venue," Craigie wrote.

The superintendents had hoped Gibbons would join them for the meeting, but instead Wade attended on Gibbons' behalf.

Former Gov. Kenny Guinn, who spent nine years as superintendent of the Clark County School District, said it's critical that Gibbons and education leaders work together "year-round, every day - not just during the legislative session."

The first iNVest plan, submitted by superintendents in 2003, came at Guinn's urging.

"I told them it was imperative that you develop a cohesive program that will give people a look at what your priorities are," Guinn said. "You can't want until the (legislative) session when the budget has already been put together. They took the constructive criticism very well and developed the iNVest plan."

Guinn said he was optimistic that the governor and the superintendents would be able to work out their differences in the coming days.

"Hopefully there will be time allocated and they will sit down and work toward the betterment of education," Guinn said. "There are a lot of great points in the iNVest plan, and there are plenty of areas for discussion and give-and-take."