Editorial: Empowering the schools

Thursday, March 29, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

As lawmakers start to debate plans designed to improve Nevada's schools, one thing is clear: Gov. Jim Gibbons' $60 million empowerment plan is not the answer.

The governor's plan would create 100 empowerment schools, where principals and teachers would have more authority over what and how they teach. That sounds good, but Gibbons' plan - the cornerstone of his education policy - is largely based on buzzwords and vague thoughts.

Using a poorly conceived plan to change the way children at 100 schools are educated is hardly sound policy.

The Clark County School District found mixed results when it experimented with something similar to the empowerment proposal in the 1990s.

As reported by Emily Richmond in Wednesday's Las Vegas Sun, former Superintendent Brian Cram noted a downside: Some principals dumped their tried-and-true curriculum for the latest educational fad - and achievement levels dropped.

Something as major as an empowerment proposal needs serious study and thought, as the Clark County School District is doing with its pilot empowerment program , which started last year. The Legislature should look to that program, which is showing progress, in devising an empowerment plan.

Gibbons, however, has tried to position his empowerment program as the cure-all for Nevada's schools. To pay for it, he would use money budgeted for an incentive program for teachers in difficult-to-fill positions. Killing that program makes no sense , considering the difficulty the state has in finding and keeping quality teachers.

State Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, told a Senate committee that empowerment is "not a silver bullet," but "one bold move that should be followed by other bold actions."

Empowerment is but one part of the Democrats' well-reasoned plan. They propose a smaller empowerment plan - 25 schools - that would be paid for out of the schools' budgets and a slate of other changes, including increasing teacher salaries, expanding all-day kindergarten and spending more on vocational education.

While innovative thinking and reforms are essential to improving our schools, let's not forget those sensible, proven ways.