Education
Mutually assured donations
Back-scratching abounds in Clark County education.
Why is the Clark County School District issuing checks for millions of dollars to Southern Nevada's powerful teacher union? According to purchase and change orders reviewed by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, within the last two years a total of $4.9 million has been approved by CCSD trustees for payment directly to the Clark County Education Association, or to a foundation controlled by the union.
On the CCSD money trail
How school spending often gets determined
Local school board races often go unnoticed and under-researched by voters. Nevertheless, these campaigns have a truly critical impact on K-12 education. In many respects, this is education's true front line, the place where the very foundation of most students' education is laid down – or not.
That old Trojan Horse
Calls for education spending hikes are based on dubious statistics.
Nevada faces a steadily worsening economy, thanks in no small part to poor federal regulatory policies that are driving up inflation and destroying the value of the American dollar. This problem exacerbates Nevada's already massive budgetary shortfall, which will continue to worsen as the dollar continues to weaken.
The devil dances a jig
His partner: The Interim Legislative Committee on Education
Why does Nevada education always seem to end up at the bottom of the barrel? Two bill draft requests coming out of the Interim Legislative Committee on Education show why.
A modest proposal
Outsourcing education?
Throughout the year several Nevadans, including Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley (D-Las Vegas), former governor Bob Miller, casino mogul Steve Wynn and higher-ed chancellor Jim Rogers have claimed that budget cuts to education in would be "devastating" for the children. These advocates of "Big Education" would like to see Nevada increase spending based on the notion that we "underfund" education relative to other states.
Nothing doing
The Clark County School Board misses a great opportunity.
The Clark County School Board often speaks of scenarios of "if only" or "in a perfect world." Parents, too, have long desired certain scenarios...
No Magic Beans
Nevada cannot buy progress in education
Students are back in school now, and pundits, reporters, policy wonks, bureaucrats and politicians are back to debating what the state's budgetary shortfall means for the future of Nevada public education.
Public higher education in Nevada needs a basic re-thinking
Business model is ‘busted'
No doubt it's impolitic to say so, but the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) is a lumbering, brain-dead white elephant. Furthermore, it ought to be put out of its misery – and quickly.
How much for a gallon of education?
Arguments for more education spending are out of gas.
When gas prices climbed over $4 a gallon earlier this summer, many Americans were outraged. Whether it is through government action or private solutions, citizens are demanding relief. But the rise in fuel prices over the last four decades pales in comparison to increases in per-pupil spending on public education in America. From 1961-2007, per-pupil spending increased by 293 percent after adjusting for inflation.
Time for a wake-up call
Do Nevadans know what's going on with the state Board of Education?
There is a premise that leadership and success start at the top. If this is true, then it is no wonder that education in Nevada is in a shameful state.
