Letter: Initiative could be a win-win for education

Friday, Oct. 26, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.

The No Child Left Behind Act was a bipartisan bill passed by Congress to improve the achievement of America's public -school children. Although aspects of this bill are open to debate, it has forced school districts across the country to concentrate on the children most at risk for failure in school. The law focuses on increasing educational standards, and many states have worked diligently toward that effort. Nevada is one of those states.

Recently, the Nevada State Education Association decided to use a ballot initiative to increase funding for K-12 education. As a middle school teacher and an NSEA member, I am intrigued by this option.

When higher standards are a component of a legislative act, increased scrutiny of results is imperative . The education association is in a key position to see how our state is struggling to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Some states have used the court system, through adequacy lawsuits, to increase funding for K-12 education. New York City received nearly $2 billion in additional funding through the courts. Other states have used ballot initiatives to let the voters decide where additional funding will come from.

The NSEA's initiative targets only one funding stream , allowing our children's schooling after K-12 to be further supported. It allows the state's legislative funding system to channel more dollars toward higher education demands. This would seem to provide a win-win outcome for all the educational entities in Nevada.

Mary Beth Price-Heavrin, Henderson