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Teachers union gives Nevada Legislature F grade
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John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal
From left, Assembly members Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, and John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, Gov. Brian Sandoval and Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, appear in the Legislature on June 1. » Buy this photo
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: Aug. 30, 2011 | 7:49 a.m.
Nevada legislators failed K-12 schools this session with deep budget cuts and changes to teacher evaluation and collective bargaining rules, according to a report card the state teachers union released Monday that flunks every elected Republican and serves near-failing grades to some high-ranking Democrats.
The Nevada State Education Association, the largest public employee union in Nevada, released its report card almost three months after lawmakers ended a hard-fought session that resulted in pay cuts for teachers and calls on them to contribute to their pensions.
"We want teachers who are starting their first day of school to understand why they don't see the services and the support that they do," NSEA lobbyist Craig Stevens said.
The Republicans -- all 26 of whom scored an F -- scoffed at the report card.
"As the teachers union continues to frame the education debate about what's best for the adults, Senate Republicans remain committed to asking what is in the best interest of ... the students," the GOP caucus said in a statement Monday.
The A-through-F grades were based about two-thirds on each lawmaker's voting record, Stevens said, and were weighted more heavily by votes on major budget and reform bills. The remaining one-third was based on opinions from members of the union's team of lobbyists, who ranked how strongly each legislator supported the union.
"We all sat in the hearings when the Republicans wouldn't move on the funding," Stevens said of GOP resistance to a Democratic proposal that would have raised about $1.2 billion through taxes and other means. "There was no compromise. They refused to budge."
The only Democrat to get an F was conservative state Sen. John Lee of North Las Vegas, but the report card gives low marks to Democrats who sponsored an education reform package that made it easier to fire underperforming teachers.
Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, both got D's. So did Assemblyman David Bobzien, a Reno Democrat who led the Assembly Education Committee, in which many of the bills originated.
"It's kind of sad that I don't seem to be getting credit for anything I've done in the past or as chair of (the budget committee)," Smith said. "When you look at things that were restored that would have completely dismantled their pay system, I think that what we did was very well-balanced."
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, who gave several impassioned speeches on the Senate floor about the condition of deteriorating Nevada school campuses, scored a B.
Seven Democratic assembly members scored an A: Kelvin Atkinson, Richard Carrillo, Maggie Carlton, William Horne, Dina Neal, Peggy Pierce and Tick Segerblom. Five Democratic senators earned an A or A-: Shirley Breeden, Ruben Kihuen, Mark Manendo, David Parks and Mike Schneider.
Representatives from the union -- which traditionally is a cornerstone of the Democratic Party -- said they hope the report card sheds light on candidates' track records come election season.
Republicans said it could work in their favor.
"I think of this as being a voice that is looking forward to changing a system that's not working," said Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno. "I'm going to wear my F as a badge of honor."
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@vegan. Please point out where I am blaming the kids. I don't think that I ever said that. You complain about the system and want bad teachers fired, but you are not willing to say which of the teachers I used as examples should be fired. The contract has a system in place right now to do that, it is not easy and requires some work, but it can be done.
Unions and lawmakers, the two hings that have destroyed this country with poor decisions and to high of wages. Go away
@tanker - stop blaming the kids. So what that you have to take every kid - guess what - so does every school district in NYC - yet they produce better results (even with their corrupt system they produce better results - it's embarrassing).
And, if you guys are not smart enough to figure out which teachers need to be fired and aren't smart enough to devise a reasonable system to accomplish the objective then perhaps we should just fire everyone and start over.
Oh, how could I forget a fellow who was a member of the Communications Workers Union (or whatever you call the group which represents guys who climb telephone poles). Maybe he had an Associates degree. He studied engineering on his own and developed some pretty sophisticated hardware for telephone technicians. He made a lot of money.
Now don't go telling me that almost every one of those guys graduated from public schools. I guarentee you that NOTHING they might have learned there had any impact on their engineering careers.
I've met numerous other whiz kids over the years, but I think I've made my point.
I once walked into a hospital HR office and filled out a job application. On the line which asked "Position Applied For" I wrote: "Physician". Perhaps I should have applied for a job in a barber shop instead. Do a [search] for "Barber's Pole".
Why not ask tech entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Steve Wosniak, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Larry Ellison, et al how *they* were able to practice engineering without first getting a college degree? In the case of Edison, probably not even a *high school* diploma. And unlike Gates, Jobs and Ellison came from poor homes, and were not reared by their genetic parents. Wozniak was a super geek kid who received his engineering degree years AFTER his success at Apple.
One of the brightest *engineers* who I ever worked for was a green card (illegal?) *MD* who grew up very poor in a war-decimated country. The best OS guy I ever met had studied .. psychology. I've also known some pretty talented programmers who moonlighted as (and had formally studied) DRAMA-related fields.
The woman who gives my kids music lessons is a college dropout. She tells me that even as a *teen* she knew more than her music professors.
The point is, there are always going to be *exceptional* individuals who will lead us new directions. Who won't be thwarted by their own (or anyone else's) lack of formal education.
Jasper. The well to do would be paying for the not so well to do. You are the one making it about rich verses poor. That's not it. It's about those who really care about educating their kids and willing to back it up with their wallet. rich can go to private scoop now. Poor have to go to public school. Vouchers provide a place for kids and parents willing to pay more to get more. Look at it this way. No voucher-- you get to educate my 5 kids. Thanks for blowing 35 grand a year on me! Yes voucher -- the state still allocate the 35 grand, but the voucher would only be for 17.5 for me to use. I would have to pony up another 20 or so. The public school system would get to keep the 17.5 already allocated for educating my kids. Easy. You can either pay 17.5 for me or 35k. It is sad you choose 35. But ok! 35 it is!
No matter how you look at it the voucher system would only benefit kids that are well to due. Any decent school would fill up quickly leaving little room for anyone else. How does this solve the problem of poor education? The answer is that it doesn't. The voucher system is a way to obtain funds for people with the means to send their kids to the better schools. After all the argument goes why should I have to pay for public school in addition to paying for my kid to go to private school.
To jackeee: If you knew anything about me you would realize that I'm not big on unions. However, to put all of these problems on unions alone is naive. Unions served a purpose, but have too often become too powerful and corrupt. However, without the power to strike they aren't anywhere as effective. The problems in our schools are not caused by unions, but on the refusal of the government to hold businesses accountable for hiring illegals and its fear of lawsuits thus permitting discipline problems to remain unchecked.
@blogspot. So how would you suggest we educate the doctors, the engineers, etc to provide the society and services that we want. @lol. The district only gets the money for kids enrolled, so if your kid doesn't attend CCSD, no money. The state funding formula allocates a certain amount of money per ENROLLED student, not all kids in the community. So where does the money for your voucher come from? So if you have a kid who is ADD, ADHD, special education, behaviour disorder etc, and you can pay the tuition, then the private school would take them? Yeah, right, just look at the Meadows, Dawson School, etc, see how many kids in those categories they have.
Tanker. It leaves 3500 for the kid you don't have to educate, and 7000 for the one you do. I won't add them together for you, you will have to get a book and figure out how to do simple math yourself. And as far as who and how many kinds these schools will or would take, the answer is simple. Every one that can pay tuition. If you are fishing for poor kids and underprivileged to have a place to go to school. My answer is also simple. To the public one I am already paying for.