John H.O. LaGatta - Nevada Education Reform

NEVADA EDUCATION REFORM
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All Nevada children deserve a good education. The status quo does not provide it. The lack of a strong public education system hinders economic development and growth. Our obstacle to attracting high paying intangible industries and business headquarters operations to Nevada is the low ranking of our public education compared to other states.

Nevada’s government should seek to evolve out of its current tax revenue bind by attracting clean intangibles industries that have high-earned incomes such as investment/wealth management, intellectual property and high-tech research. Also, Nevada should increasingly be the state of where corporations are formed and business headquarters are located. Wealthy families benefit Nevada governments by generating sales and property taxes far in excess of the cost of these citizens to governments. In addition to sales and property taxes, earned income, such as high salaries and bonuses, also generate the modified business tax. However, the low ranking of schools in Nevada are a serious drawback for high-earned income families considering a move to Nevada.

Teacher pay is not the major problem. According to the American Federation of Teachers[i], Nevada’s teacher pay is 19th among the 50 states. (This is before proper adjustments for cost of living, comparative seniority, etc.) Nevada’s comparative cost of living is not high. Research demonstrates that the amount spent per student has little correlation to student achievement even after “outliers” are eliminated.[ii] What matters most is what the education money is spent on and how well it is spent. We invite discussion on both of the above.

Nevada must look into what it is doing wrong, doing inefficiently or not doing at all.

Nevada should consider a number of education reform concepts such as electronic enhancement, merit pay, students per class and the school hours per day and days per year. Most of these concepts have substantial academic and professional literature supporting them. The literature addresses not only theory but reports where reform measures have been tried, tested, replicated and can be assessed. Nevada should evaluate and consider each of the concepts for use here.

As a start, Catamount Fund, Ltd. (“Catamount”)[iii] has engaged graduate students to analyze educational reform by reading literature obtained from Rand Corporation and other reliable sources. This literature is to be set forth on our website, as will be the graduate students’ analysis and summaries. Catamount invites discussion about additional literature that should be on the website, advice about presentation, the graduate students’ summaries and about the concepts. Catamount invites debate, discussion and consideration toward the goal of selecting those concepts that would benefit Nevada.

[i] According to AFT’s, “Survey and Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2007”

[ii] e.g., District of Columbia (high cost per student/low achievement) or Utah (low cost per student/high achievement)

[iii] Catamount is a public 501 (c) 3 formed by me some 13 years ago.

In order to evaluate the concepts in the context of reforming Nevada’s public education, there is a large body of factual data that should be put in a form accessible and useful for critical debate by Nevada’s educational establishment, legislators, constitutional officers, the public and other interested parties. Information that should be easily and readily available includes, but is not limited to:

· Who’s Who in Nevada education and how to reach them. This should go beyond just members of the educational establishment, including all seriously interested parties. Catamount has engaged a consultant to organize this data and make it available on a website with links, etc.

· The Facts: Students by location, age, ethnicity, academic achievement, dropout rates, etc. and information about the public and independent schools. Information about teachers and administrators. Financial information. Much of this data is available via government sources, but could be made more accessible to those not within the government or educational establishment. Catamount would appreciate suggestions and discussion with other interested parties.

· Gathering and making the existing facts and statistics available on the website will be accomplished along with serious analysis about the reliability and usefulness of such data. Catamount is aware of several topics deserving attention and invites discussion with other interested parties on the nature of issues deserving special additional attention.

Over time the educational system has built up “inertias and rigidities.” Possibly there are substantial expenditures on “X” that ought to be spent on “Y” or “Z.” NSEA ought to be encouraged to become an association that is forward thinking and actively promotes desirable change. (Examples are the Bar, the medical professions, CPA’s.) All of this is in keeping with the current leadership on both sides of the aisle, the professional status and the key role of teachers in any significant educational reform.

When all of the above comes into view, a very professional team of grant writers should be engaged to write up the overall education reform program and solicit a large 501 (c) 3 to invest in Nevada. With three million citizens (not too large), a progressive past and large future potential, as well as the low ranking of our public education, Nevada could well be an inviting target for major not-for-profit investment.

We believe a new formal association with a membership of all the interested parties (organizations and persons) ought to be organized in the near future and its letterhead, website, etc. be available to further the objective of inducing substantial improvement of Nevada’s public education. Catamount welcomes insights, opportunities to collaborate and discussion.