Comments (39) | Add a comment
Sandoval signs four education bills into law
Tools
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Gov. Brian Sandoval on Wednesday signed into law bills that would shake up Nevada's public education bureaucracy and make it easier to fire poor performing teachers.
Changes to laws covering teacher tenure, performance pay, Department of Education governance and charter school authorization were contained in four bills on which the Republican governor and most members of the Democrat-controlled Legislature agreed.
They're meant to help drag Nevada out of the basement when it comes to the performance of its public school students, who graduate at one of the lowest rates in the nation.
But critics say the reforms, while needed, won't pack much of a punch until legislators, the governor and the public agree to increase spending on K-12 education.
Still, Sandoval and others hailed the changes as "groundbreaking education reform" that will "make a big difference" in the lives of Nevada kids.
"Today we have made great advancements on behalf of our schoolchildren," Sandoval said in a statement issued after signing Assembly Bills 225 and 229 and Senate Bills 197 and 212. "These are historic education reforms which will improve the quality of Nevada's education system."
Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, who was among legislative leaders who pushed for reform and more school funding, endorsed the changes.
"I am convinced these reforms are going to make a big difference in our kids' lives, creating a better learning experience, ensuring Nevada has a better educated citizenry, and setting us on a path to long-term economic growth," Smith said.
The four bills containing the changes are the following:
■ AB225, which states teachers who have achieved tenure can be returned to probationary status after two consecutive unsatisfactory evaluations.
■ AB229 requires school boards to establish pay-for-performance standards; increases from two to four the number of categories for teacher and administrator evaluation results; allows school districts to fire teachers or administrators accused of "gross misconduct"; states that seniority may not be the only factor in deciding teacher and administrator layoffs; and includes protections to ensure that teachers who are facing the threat of dismissal can appeal to a third-party arbiter.
■ SB197 gives the governor, not the Nevada Board of Education, authority to appoint the state superintendent of public instruction and changes the Board of Education from a 10-member elected body to one with four elected members, three appointed members and four non-voting members.
■ SB212 creates the State Public Charter School Authority to oversee the formation of charter schools, a duty now held by Board of Education.
Although Sandoval and Democratic leaders hailed the changes as dramatic, others said that they fell short of what the governor promised in his State of the State speech and that for any reforms to work, more education funding is needed.
"The state decided to move forward with reform without funding it," said Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, a teacher and school employee labor organization.
"We're walking away without a real funding solution for our state and our schools. We sold our kids short."
Warne said the organization supported the provisions making it easier to dismiss teachers only after protections were added to give those facing dismissal a hearing in front of a third party, outside the school administration.
"It should not be based on personality conflict. It is not a matter of getting along with your boss; it is a matter of being a highly effective educator," Warne said.
She also said lawmakers and Sandoval ducked a chance to increase funding for schools by implementing a business tax or tax on services that could have generated more money to pay for improvements.
Warne said teachers, major industry leaders and labor organizations are still planning to go to the voters with a ballot initiative to raise taxes to fund education.
"I think the voters, parents and other interests are tired of that kind of gamesmanship," Warne said of the decision by legislators and Sandoval to avoid tackling bills that would have increased education funding. "This summer we'll have to start getting details together for what the initiative is going to look like."
Victor Joecks, communications director at the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute, said there wasn't much wrong with the reforms Sandoval signed into law.
But Joecks said they were tepid compared with the sweeping changes Sandoval advocated during his campaign and in his January State of the State speech.
Joecks said some of Sandoval's strongest proposals included ending social promotion for students, establishing a letter-grade system to judge schools' performance and creating a system to use state money to fund vouchers that would pay for families to send their children to private schools.
"These are very minor reforms," Joecks said. "I don't think any of them are steps backward. I just don't think any of them are big steps forward."
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Give one example of where pay for performance has been used. All this talk about it and not one mention of a system that has worked. Are PE and Art teachers going to get "performance pay" if the school does well in Math, Science, Reading? How are you going to give performance pay to teachers who do not work directly with students? So, tell us where performance pay is being used in this country.
Superintendent Jones has two ideas and they will not work. Having teachers get paid royalties for downloaded lesson plans? You mean to tell me that PE, Art teachers are going to get royalties for their lesson plans? The other lame thought is giving the school a pay raise for reaching some academic goal. So, the pay of the school is going to hinge on the math, reading and english teachers? This is so disingenuous. How can you pass a law to implement a program when you do not know you are going to implement the program. Wake up. Come up with a plan, and then pass a law, not vice versa. This is how lame this state is.
blogspot said: We expect CCSD to teach basic skills to poor kids who want to learn but otherwise wouldn't have a chance. Let me know when it figures out how to do that.
Let's make this easy. What is your definition of "basic skills?" What basic skills do the kids need to "have a chance?"
blogspot once again you cease to amaze me with your logic. $10 a week or $520 dollars a year for an education this cheap state can't do for $5,500 a year. Its like saying why buy that ford focus for $5500 when you can buy this Yugo for $520. Your costs are so low ball NOBODY can take what you write seriously, nobody.
As for the computer they already have unlimited access at the public library and its totally FREE. I wonder why this hasn't produced any Einsteins' lately?
We don't expect CCSD to get our kids into the best universities with scholarships. 10% of kids will succeed in spite of CCSD.
We don't expect it to make headway with kids who don't want to learn. 10% of kids will never succeed no matter who's doing the teaching.
We expect CCSD to teach basic skills to poor kids who want to learn but otherwise wouldn't have a chance. Let me know when it figures out how to do that.
Non-poor: a parent who can afford to spend:
(1) $10/wk per kid for basic skills education services, provided in a group setting, for a period of 6 yrs (~240 sessions), or
(2) $400 on a PC, plus $50/m on a broadband i'net connection which enables them to have unlimited access to a curriculum
Sandoval promised education reform and now has in place a manner of eliminating less than competent teachers and a merit pay performance process all of which sounds good and may be ideal on paper.. The big question is when will Nevada finally have 'only competent excellent teachers' these bills are supposed to create? With his plan in place how soon can we expect to see highly improved education achievement on state exit exams, improved graduation rates, and reduced drop out rates? In other words, when will Nevada rise in national education ratings?
To desertNorwegian: I assume your statement about it working here is tongue in cheek?
To n7v.blogspot.com: Curious, what is your definition of non-poor?
To rwsdao: People like rocndbakken think that teachers put in there 6 hours 5 days a week for only 9 months a year. After we get home we grab a beer in one hand and a remote in the other. There's probably a good chance that he did lousy in school and has a grudge against all teachers.
rockndbakken: I am too lazy to get a 12 month job? How do you know that? You a psychic? Also, tell us how the teacher union is getting more money and how much that amount is. You don't have a clue. I am NOT a member of the union, but I cannot to look at stupidity either, aka, what you write.
n7v.blogsnot.com: Can you explain the catastrophe that sends students from CCSD to the best universities in the nation on full scholarships. You continue to say the same lame falsehoods over and over again, with no proof to back up what you say. Sounds like the definition of insanity to me. There is going to more government and higher taxes because of these so-called reforms? Where do you get that from?