Ways and Means questions education block grant plan

Lawmakers and educators Friday questioned Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposed education block grant plan

The plan is funded with $161.6 million in money that currently goes to the mandated programs such as class size reduction that it replaces. Sandoval has proposed removing those mandates and allowing each school district to decide what it wants to use its share of funding for.

After class size reduction, the biggest single piece included in the block grant program is all-day kindergarten. Julia Teska of the budget office confirmed to the committee that the total amount of money in the block grant program is about $7.3 million less than the total in the programs it replaces.

But she said she expects the amount of money in the block grant fund will increase as the economy improves.

"This bill will result in larger classes," said Joyce Haldeman, associate superintendent of the Clark County School District. "You can't hire more teachers with less money."

Teska told lawmakers the program also comes with reporting requirements.

"When the districts submit their plans, they have to specifically list what metrics they are going to use to measure their plans," she said.

She said the goal is to have districts prove what they are doing is improving student achievement.

Ways and Means Chairman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said she was concerned some of the smaller programs being moved into the block grant would simply disappear because school districts would have to put the money into class size and kindergarten.

Those programs include early childhood education, gifted and talented programs, special elementary counseling and the library media specialists. In addition, the minimum textbook spending requirement would be eliminated.

Under the plan, 10 percent of the money would be dedicated to incentive grants for districts to develop creative ways of improving schools.

She said the plan wasn't crated as a budget solution but as reform designed to give school districts more flexibility and control over their own programs.

The committee took no action on AB558, which would create the block grant program.