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Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 | 2:03 a.m.
This month, Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction James Guthrie sat down in Carson City for a discussion with Matt Hufman, the editor of the Sun’s editorial and opinion pages. This is an edited and condensed transcript of the conversation: Talk about school funding. Would I like more money for schools? Of course I’d like more money for schools. Is it going to happen? No. No, it’s not going to happen. So, my challenge is to sell the state on the fact that what money we have, we’ve got to spend it wisely. That’s not easy. There are a lot of ...
Mr.Guthrie states that Washoe county schools are a dream compared to Clark County because of size etc. Isn't one of the solutions to break up the district into multiple districts so that it would be much easier to manage. Isn't another possible solution to take the funding of the schools away from the legislature and move it to local municipalities who could fund the schools either through prpperty taxes or local wage taxes and thus get the schools they desire. This funding method is very common on the east coast and has resulted in many excellent schools being created.
In order to spend money wisely, school authorities have to a much better job effectively measuring and managing resources and their results. More money is the simple solution. Better spending money is just a variation of more money. Education matrices and measures are the real need. Unless and until uniform standards are maximized across the State for educational institutions nothing will change except the dialogue.
CarmineD
Guthrie states, "...the analyses about what the new formula (for school funding) ought to look like just can't be done in a month. It's more complicated than that. There were no provisions made to do it before this legislative session."
Why were there no provisions or a proposal submitted to the legislature before the 2013 session convened? Guthrie has been on the job for 11 months. One would think that would be enough time to prepare a proposal. Instead, he's busy working on a new evaluation system that Dwight Jones, in charge of "the tail that's going to wag this whole dog," has conned Clark County school board trustees into authorizing $300,000 a year for a consultant to develop an evaluation system of its own.
Mr. Guthrie might well be right about one thing. The real problem is that education dollars need to be spent more wisely, especially in Clark County, where it wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that we have an associate superintendent in charge of pencil distribution hiding in an office somewhere.
What a hoot! If it weren't the futures of generations of really needy kiddos being minimized by buffoons, this act would bring down the house.
Some say it is already tumbling and the shallowed lives are splattering and blasting away with no end in sight!