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Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 | 11:49 a.m.
Sun Coverage
CARSON CITY – Parents told a legislative budget subcommittee today that cuts to the public schools system would lead to more student dropouts and would harm the state's economy.
“This is the wrong direction for the state,” said Allison Turner, president of the Nevada Parent-Teachers Association.
Leslie Gilkey of Reno said she already has moved her two children to a private school because of overcrowding in public schools. She said she might move to another state with a better education system.
The testimony was in advance of a hearing at Green Valley High School this evening in which members of the public are expected to call for increasing the amount of money going to education.
The subcommittee considered Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget to allow school districts to make decisions on such things as class-size reduction and full-day kindergarten. He has proposed putting money in a single pot for school boards to decide where the money should be allocated -- but the amount of the money is cut back.
Dale Erquiaga, senior adviser to the governor, said Sandoval has agreed not to convert to the new funding system until the second year of the biennium. He said districts wanted more time to assess the impact of putting money into a single pot.
Turner said Nevada already has the lowest financial support per pupil in the nation and the governor wants to reduce it by $500 next year.
Gilkey said the private school her children go to spends twice as much per student than the public school. Unless funding is restored to education, she said she wouldn't put her children back into the public school system.
Greta Jensen of Reno told the subcommittee that allowing additional students in classes would lead to more dropouts. “We need to maintain our current funds,” said Jensen, a member of the Parent Leaders for Education.
Turner said cutting back on public schools jeopardizes the economy and hurts efforts to attract new businesses.
One thing that is getting ridiculous is all these "staff devolpment day". Every month the children in school have atleast a 3 day weekend. I would bet that the teachers are at home relaxing also.It is starting to cut into the education of this generations learning.
ANTITHESIS, Governor...
Look it up!!!
No one wants to cut education. The issue is that there just isn't enough money. Maybe parents should have to add some money to the budget for their children to go to public school. Let's see, the additional amount can be based on income and the number of children you have. That's a good idea. If the parents had to caugh up some money, maybe they would be more concerned with their kids education.
@vegas-bred: for the record, the correct sentence is "this generation's learning," with an apostrophe "s" to designate possessive, not plural. As your name suggests, you are indeed vegas-bred, and your post is yet another a sad testament to the state of education in Nevada.
Hey, Mark (Trexler)...
The Governor just proposed giving vouchers to EVERYONE, regardless of income, so those wealthy enough to pay $15,000-$20,000 per-year to send their kiddies to private, for-profit schools can get a kickback from the B.S. administration.
How would THAT fit into your equation?
These School Districts are so top heavy. Cuts need to be made from the top down - not the bottom up.
Yes, today was staff development day. And I bet that if you polled the teachers, most would say that they should be cut.
At my school, we did get some information today-- it appears the district is looking to cut central office staff and administrators first. Even with that approach, we will still lose teachers. They are lowballing our student count next year by almost 200 students, which will result in the loss of 5 teachers. Our class sizes will go up significantly, putting our children's education and safety at risk.
We are doing everything we can at the school level to mitigate these cuts, including possibly even giving up some of our prep period (where we are supposed to grade papers and plan) to add an additional period so that students can get smaller classes. That will mean more time at home away from our families at night. We are trying to do more with less, people. We could use your support, not your scorn. The vast majority of teachers are wonderful individuals who only want to help students learn and achieve. We are willing to give up our time, and help the district save money.