Keeping good teachers

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Years ago, Southern Nevada attracted good teachers such as Bill and Denise Walker because there were better opportunities in the Clark County School District than elsewhere. They settled down, raised a family and each taught for nearly three decades before retiring. Their son, Geoff Walker, and his wife, Shelby, are also teachers in the district who are raising a family. But they don’t like what they see as they gaze into the future and are thinking about leaving town.

As reported Thursday by Paul Takahashi in the Las Vegas Sun, the younger Walkers face the prospect of pay cuts and furloughs from a district that must grapple with a record $150 million budget deficit next fiscal year. In addition, educators are under increasing pressure to make teaching for better test scores their highest priority, as though nothing else that happens in a classroom matters.

The sad reality is that teachers are under assault not only in Clark County but also nationwide. Many are vastly underpaid, work long hours at home to grade papers, dip into their own pockets to pay for school supplies and see their class sizes expanding.

Some of this might not matter to the most dedicated of teachers if they still had plenty of autonomy when it came to their lesson plans. Increasingly, though, they are being hamstrung because of the obsession with test-taking caused by the No Child Left Behind initiative of former President George W. Bush, which ties federal education funding to test results. Teachers rightfully complain they are forced to teach a certain way simply so a child can pass a standardized test in reading, writing or math. Add it up and it explains why morale among teachers is sinking.

The joy of teaching for many is rapidly disappearing as it did for Denise Walker, who retired two years early. As she told Takahashi: “I just felt worn down by the lack of respect and the way they’re chipping away at our livelihood.”

Of all the problems that need to be worked out with public education in Southern Nevada, one of the most crucial is how to restore that respect so good veteran teachers aren’t retiring prematurely and younger teachers aren’t thinking about leaving the district for better opportunities elsewhere.

Geoff Walker, who teaches English at Foothill High School, is a realist. With twin daughters to feed, he’s got to keep an eye on household finances that will shrink if he and his wife, a geography teacher at Mannion Middle School, are forced to take pay cuts. So now he’s having second thoughts about staying with the district, telling Takahashi: “If it comes to the point where financially, it’s untenable to be here, where we can’t save or make a living, I don’t know what other choice we have.”

Because the focus needs to be on the best way to educate children, good teachers should be rewarded and poor teachers should be replaced. Following that blueprint, while maintaining a well-rounded education that also includes instruction in history, arts and foreign languages, will give students the best chance to succeed in life.

The district will have a hard time retaining good teachers in the long run if state lawmakers don’t figure out a way to increase teacher salaries. As we have said before, one way to raise the necessary revenue is to fix a broken state tax system that allows many individuals who live here and many companies that do business in the state to avoid paying their fair share.

Teachers also need the flexibility to deliver their lessons as creatively as possible to captivate students’ attention and challenge their critical thinking. There should be more to teaching than simply getting children to pass a standardized test.