Patrick R. Gibbons
Assemblywoman Koivisto: Please close the schools that fail to educate children
At a recent legislative hearing, a witness remarked that Nevada should cut taxes and spending. Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto (D, Clark County 14), however, responded briskly. She asked, "Which elementary, middle and high schools we should close because we have no money to keep them open?"
Education experts break down Obama’s speech
Dr. Matthew Ladner (vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute and policy fellow at the Nevada Policy Research Institute) critiques and criticizes President Obama's idea that everyone should attend college. Ladner notes that fewer than 30 percent of all jobs in 2004 even required a college degree.
UNR, UNLV: Funding outpaces graduation rates
The University of Nevada, Reno has the 25th highest instructional spending per full-time student in the U.S., according to the database of the Education Trust. Nevertheless, when UNR is compared on rates of graduation within six years, the school ranks just 211th.
Handicapping the debate
Manufacturing a budget crisis
Gov. Jim Gibbons either surrounded himself with people giving him bad advice or he never intended to seriously fight tax increases—or both. If your goal is to fight tax increases, you don't frame the debate by starting with highly bloated budget estimates while calling insufficient revenues to meet those estimates a "crisis."
NSHE needs to focus on graduating its students
A memo from Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Jim Rogers recently defended paying 106 of the roughly 1,300 NSHE employees more than $100,000 a year. It was another instance of Nevada policy leaders focusing on inputs—state employees and salaries—rather than results.
NSHE needs to focus on results, not funding
As mentioned before, funding for the Nevada System of Higher Education has grown considerably faster than inflation. But has NSHE seen a comparably strong rise in student population, reducing state funding per student? Some people still feel government should maintain, or even increase, its per-resident or per-pupil funding, regardless of any possibilities of taking advantage of cost-saving ideas.
