The Nevada State Education Association formally released the details of its ballot initiative this past weekend. The association believes it will generate approximately $250 million for public education. Sen. Joe Neal's initiative plan was released a month ago.
The Nevada State Board of Education intends to ask for an increase in the Distributive School Account (DSA). Realizing that it can't happen overnight, the goal of the state board is to have Nevada's per pupil expenditures reach the national average over the next few bienniums. Right now, the state per pupil expenditure is $500 below the national average. The board also supports an increase in the special education funding. Currently, local districts are forced to spend over $100 million from their general budget to meet these state and federal mandates.
Teacher salaries are also paid out of the DSA. It's estimated that a 1 percent salary increase for teachers will cost in the vicinity of $42 million over the biennium. Knowing that key legislators are talking about a 4 percent raise, that translates to $168 million.
It would appear that the Council to Establish Academic Standards will be requesting a longer school day or year so students can meet the new academic requirements they adopted. Last session, the Legislative Counsel Bureau estimated one additional day would cost the state $11 million. In addition to increasing instructional time, the council has also been talking about the importance and needs for additional professional development to ensure teachers can teach to these new, more rigorous standards.
Another issue to come before the Legislature is testing. The state needs to develop new criterion referenced tests in English/language arts, mathematics, science and social studies to determine high school graduation. Other tests that need to be developed include criterion referenced tests in those same academic areas in third, fifth and eighth grades.
Speaking of testing, Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., has introduced a bill entitled Fairness and Accuracy in Student Testing Act. The legislation, while not likely to pass, would strike at the very cornerstone of the standards based reform movement. Many states have been experiencing a backlash to the high stakes testing that determines promotion and graduation. Even Secretary of Education Riley, a supporter of the standards based reform movement, has asked states for a mild course correction as more and more parents are questioning the validity of these tests.
Any time you have high stakes testing, the need for remediation funding can't be too far behind. It's only recently that the state Legislature has come to understand this. With more tests and higher stakes, remediation costs will also escalate.
Where's this money to pay for all this going to come from? My guess is both the Neal and the teacher's initiative will pass. I'm also guessing that the class size reduction program will either bite the dust or be scaled back during this session. That program is costing the state in the neighborhood of $80 million per year. Critics have attacked the popular program for not showing any measurable results in student achievement. The way that class size was implemented in this state, using a 32-to-2 student teacher ratio with no teacher training, the program was bound to fail.
Knowing the class size reduction program is in jeopardy, the Nevada State Board of Education, which is statutorily responsible for determining class size, will need to come up with alternative ratios at different grade levels so class sizes don't go through the roof.
The savings in the class size reduction budget will give the governor some wiggle room in his budget proposal. But no matter how you slice it, a change in tax structure has to be addressed because of the state's structural deficits.
Bill Hanlon, a Las Vegas educator, is a former member of the Nevada Board of Education. His e-mail address is bhanlon@accessnv.com.
