Reid, teachers group urge Gibbons to call special session on education grant

CARSON CITY — Momentum is growing to hold a special session of the state Legislature in coming weeks if only to change a law on teacher evaluations and make Nevada eligible for as much as $175 million in federal education grants.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne today joined the bandwagon of people urging Gov. Jim Gibbons to include the grant item on the agenda if he calls the Legislature into session, a step seen as likely because state tax revenues have fallen about $60 million below budget projections.

Both said the Legislature needs to act to change the law before Jan. 19 so that Nevada will become eligible for the grant. Warne said school districts already have been forced to make cuts and the receipt of federal funds could prevent additional reductions.

Tom Brede, an aide to Reid, said the senator was not demanding Gibbons convene a special session, only that if he does he should put the law change on the agenda.

Gibbons said that what they are asking is what he wants to do. He said he has been saying for weeks that he would recommend that legislators repeal a law that prevents Nevada from qualifying for the grant.

“I intend to propose the repeal of this law and hope our families and educators will put Nevada children first and support this change,” said Gibbons, sounding as if a special session were inevitable.

He added that Reid apparently was not aware of “what’s going on here,” but that he was glad the Senate majority leader was “jumping on the bandwagon.”

Earlier this week, Gibbons did not say whether he would call the Legislature into a special session, or when that could happen. He only announced he would talk with legislators this month and in January before deciding whether to call them back to Carson City to deal with the revenue shortfall.

Daniel Burns, Gibbons’ communications director, said the governor might ask the state Economic Forum to meet soon and develop new estimates of tax revenue the state can expect to receive over the next year and a half. Such meetings sometimes have been precursors to past special sessions.

The Economic Forum, made up of five business leaders, estimates what the state will receive in revenue. The governor and the Legislature must use its estimates in formulating the state budget.

In a letter to Gibbons, Reid urged the governor to include on the agenda of any special session an item to make Nevada eligible for as much as a $175 million Race to the Top federal challenge grant for education.

Under a state law approved without a hearing in 2003, Nevada is not eligible for the grant because it is one of four states that prevent student achievement data from being used in teacher evaluations.

Reid stated in a news release that this law could be changed in time to meet a Jan. 19 deadline to apply for the grant if the governor includes it on the agenda of a special session.

“It is in our state’s interest to act as soon as possible to ensure that Nevada is able to apply,” Reid said.

Warne said her organization, which sought the 2003 law, has been developing language to amend the law and make Nevada eligible for the grant.

“Absolutely we support putting this on the special session,” she said. “It would bring needed money to the state and school district coffers.”

While the teachers association originally opposed tying student achievement to teacher evaluations, Warne said Nevada can qualify for the grant if legislators make teacher evaluations subject to collective bargaining by school districts.

She said there is no guarantee that if the law is changed, Nevada will receive the grant from the U.S. Department of Education. She also said it would take as much as 500 hours of staff time by the state Department of Education to prepare the application.

In calling on Gibbons to call a special session this month, Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, said the state probably would receive no more than $30 million from a federal grant.

“We have to get moving forward on it now,” Gansert said.

But Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, said she would first want to check with the federal government to make sure any law changes proposed by the teachers association would make Nevada eligible for the grant.

“I would hate to pass something that was not enough for us to qualify,” said Parnell, chairwoman of the Education Committee.

The Race to the Top grant program includes provisions that are “federal intrusions” in the state’s overseeing of public education, such as telling state colleges how to operate education departments, Parnell said.

Such concerns need to be vetted during a special session, she said.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.

Trending topics:

• Harry Reid
• Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne
• Gov. Jim Gibbons
• Legislature special session
• federal education grants
• Ed Vogel

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. pat.mahony Dec. 2, 2009 | 9:27 p.m. Report Abuse

   I am alright for evaluations, as long as there is one test for students at the start of the school session in August, and another one at the end of the school session in June. This will show progress. it could work, but The problem I have here is the parents participation..........period. We can teach these great children till the night turns blue, only to have the parents ignore their responsibilities, in helping us with their childrens' homework and their reading. Their behavior and respect for their teachers and respect for the Institution of learning must be brought into account also. Is Special Education interpreted as well into the mix of all students testing? Senator Reid and the rest of our Education Leaders have to understand also, the Hispanic speaking and Bilingual children of our great Las Vegas population who are having a hard time adjusting to the English side of Education. Will they take that into account? I hope so. Let me be clear that this is not a dig at any race as, I am concerned that these test results and examinations never include the difficulties that Hispanic children have in a Bilingual setting. The rules set forth by the District must take all these situations I have discussed into the equation, so as to have a fair and impartial outcome, otherwise it will be the same old flawed, biased testing that will rank us as usual dead to last in the great United States of America! Are we serious about this, or is it just the money that is waved in front of our eyes because we have a deficit in this State? I truly hope this is not the case.

2. Marina.Jones Dec. 2, 2009 | 8:44 p.m. Report Abuse

   Is it fair to evaluate teachers if a student passes or fails a test if they are in Special Education? Some have to take it, but are in Special Ed for a reason!

3. OzzieWebster Dec. 2, 2009 | 7:53 p.m. Report Abuse

   I have been wondering if calling a special session is worth the financial risk? I can only imagine how many thousands of dollars that the state spends just on the special session. The articla also mentioned that it would take 500 man hours to write the grant. Who is going to be writing the grant, and how much are we paying them to do it? There is no guarantee that we will even get the money. In a time when Nevada is broke, I am not sure that taking this financial risk is worth it. I don't believe that this is the solution to our education problems, and we need to wait for our economy to level out. The bubble was going to burst anyways; now it just needs to settle. As people move out of the state, the schools, we should be adjusting our spending and budgets and not spending money on costly ventures that can't guarantee money in return.

4. OzzieWebster Dec. 2, 2009 | 7:43 p.m. Report Abuse

   As a member of the teachers' union, although sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my money, I don't recall ever being asked by my union how I felt about them supporting this change in law, how I would like this law to be worded, etc. I am a teacher that is not against using student achievement as part of evaluations, but what I am still trying to figure out is how do we make the evaluations equitable? Do the students test scores only count towards the teachers that currently have them or all of the teachers in the past? Eleventh grade students are only with their English teachers for 2 1/2 months before they take the writing proficiency test. Will their 9th and 10th grade English teachers also be evaluated on their test scores? After all, they have actually had the students longer. Will they also evaluate any other teacher that uses reading, writing, or math skills in their classes? If that is the case, the state will quickly understand how complex these evaluations are going to be. Have they considered the high transiency rate that we have? Is it fair to evaluate teachers on students that have been in the country for a short period of time? Is it fair to evaluate teachers on students that never show up to school? Is it fair to ONLY evaluate English, math, certain elementary school grades, and science teachers, while the other teachers don't have to worry about student tests scores as part of their evaluations? We already have a hard enough time finding math and science teachers. I wonder how many of them will stay when they are at schools with factors that are completely out of their control?

5. MysterMr Dec. 2, 2009 | 4:56 p.m. Report Abuse

   Better add another $60m to that shortfall when the Secretary of State quarterly numbers come out for Q4.
   
   Gibson had better repeal the business license fee for non-resident businesses in special session or we're doomed.