Chase for federal grants another peripatetic quest to improve state schools

By Jon Ralston

Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009 | 2 a.m.

I might be more excited about the Race to the Top if this state hadn’t spent decades sprinting to the bottom.

The ongoing discussion of applying for those federal education funds is perfectly emblematic of the myopia that has characterized these debates, where lawmakers and governors have been unable to see beyond the next session and set the ultimate finish line not at the apex but at the middle, aka the national average.

Suddenly, as if they have awakened to a new world, lawmakers who unanimously voted to give the Nevada State Education Association veto power over using test scores in evaluating teachers want to repeal that law to open the door to $175 million in federal grants, but are divided over whether to call a special session sooner or later. And a Republican governor who has made demonizing the state’s reliance on the evil federal government’s largesse the centerpiece of his career is grasping now for D.C. money as if it were the end-of-the-rainbow pot of gold. Both the Gang of 63 and the governor have as much an eye on their political futures vis-a-vis a special session, which would surely also consider budget issues, as on the long-term policies, with the outcome likely to include, as usual, more Band-Aids than surgeries.

Reeking of hypocrisy. Putting politics paramount. Lacking real leadership. Welcome to my world.

This is quite the political stew being served up this holiday season as the Gibbons Lack of Administration has begun to look as if it has its act more together than the Democrats controlling the Legislature. Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, echoing his counterpart in D.C., Harry Reid, has been pushing for a mid-January special session to ensure the state meets a Jan. 19 deadline for Phase 1 of the Race to the Top funds. But Assembly Democrats have been against a rush to apply, fearing both a gubernatorial pummeling in a special session and urging deliberation in applying for the federal grants.

This is a thorny issue for the Democrats because not only will a special session have to consider the state’s fiscal situation — even though that is not as exigent as it may seem — but the budget and the education funding issues also expose Achilles’ heels: Their years of genuflection to the teachers union and their antipathy to cutting budgets.

Not coincidentally, Gibbons has no problem attacking the union and slashing agencies — he already has asked for new cuts from department heads. So, politically at least, he has nothing to lose, especially with 80 percent of the state’s voters not fans of his.

Part of this is simple and being made unnecessarily complex, and part of it is complex and being made unnecessarily simple.

It would be easy to fix the Race to the Top problem — just cut 15 words that prevent test scores from being used in teacher evaluations. But Democrats, some in thrall to the union, appear amenable to NSEA language that might qualify the state for Race to the Top but would also bring the issue into collective bargaining, thus creating a legislative morass.

It will not be easy to apply for the Phase 1 funds, though, because Nevada is so deficient in so many educational indexes and has virtually no chance to qualify, even if the law were changed before the deadline. There are hoops aplenty (hundreds of requirements to be met) and state officials fret they could not prepare even a bare-bones application by Jan. 19 — you think the feds make getting these grants easy?

But some, including Horsford and School District folks, think it’s worth the risk to apply for the money sooner rather than later, that an application could be completed and that Reid’s juice might negate the state’s shortcomings. But Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley and her aide-de-camp, Debbie Smith, have called the superintendents of Clark and Washoe to point out the trap doors inherent in an early special session — possible loss of more education funding, a Gibbons field day, for starters.

All of this, though, seems like static to anyone who has observed the nondebate over education funding for decades. I bet few of those spouting off realize the grant doesn’t continue in perpetuity and the state would have to sustain any programs after two years.

Beyond all the cacophony of posterior-protecting politicians worried about electoral survival and tactical advantages is that until the Democrats come further on accountability and shed their fealty to the NSEA, Republicans will not fully come to the table on more funding.

And the race to the middle will continue to be illusory, even if the Race to the Top is secured.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program “Face to Face With Jon Ralston” on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the daily e-mail newsletter “RalstonFlash.com.” His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.