Gov. Jim Gibbons

Nevada Republican Governor Jim Gibbons isn’t sure whether he will accept $162 million in federal money to hire school teachers and supply funds to the Medicaid program.

A couple of days ago I wrote about this asking the question whether or not Nye County would reject the money from the federal government. It hadn’t occurred to me that the Governor of Nevada would relieve Nye County of having to make any decision at all. He may make the decision for all counties in the state.

Gibbons has nothing to lose, politically, because he’s a lame duck and we’ll be rid of him come January.

He first wants to see the strings attached to the law signed this week by President Obama. It would protect an estimated 1,400 teacher jobs in Nevada.

The governor has to approve accepting the money pushed through Congress by Democrats..

Gibbons complained the federal government is making decisions on Nevada’s school system. For instance, he said the Eureka County School District might need books or computers but will be required to use the funds for teachers.

No mention by Gibbons that he’s making the decisions on Nye County’s school system. Lord, considering the dismal state the education system is in how can it be any kind of improvement for Gibbons to be the “decider?” Seems to me the local school districts should be making the decision. Local school boards would seem to be in far better position to know what they need than Gibbons, or even the federal government.

"We have to study the requirements for taking that money," Gibbons said. "The requirements by the federal government oftentimes put us in a more difficult position."

He said the state might get the $82 million for education "but in some ways you have to continue to spend state money to keep getting that money and oftentimes we don’t have the matching dollars."

"I’m prepared to say ‘Thank you’ and I’m prepared to say ‘Thank you, but no thank you,’" Gibbons said.

The state, under the federal legislation, would get $79 million for the Medicaid program, which provides medical care for the needy.

Gibbons will decide whether Nevada’s Medicaid beneficiaries get their medical treatments or not. Of course the “needy” are needy due to their own fault. Or at least that seems to be the Republican viewpoint.

Gibbons press secretary Daniel Burns said it was disappointing for the federal government to offer money to states and not let states decide how to spend it.

"Rhode Island, Florida, Mississippi and Nevada have different educational needs and to say that all this money can only be spent on teachers when a school district may need books or buses or supplies for the classroom … That’s part of the strings attached," he said.

Republicans Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Dean Heller opposed the congressional bill, saying it wouldn’t create jobs in private business or spur the economy.

These two guys aren’t much help to Nevadans either. They’re locked into their “just say no” mode.

School teachers, children and the medically needy can simply go pound sand.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

It is interesting to note that Senator John Ensign voted NO on the bill the Senate passed to provide aid to the states, including Nevada, to help Nevada extend Medicaid, secure and retain the jobs of teachers. Notice also that Senator Harry Reid voted YES.

Wonder why Senator Ensign voted to ignore Nevada who desperately needs some financial assistance currently?

I received the following press release from the Rory Reid for Governor campaign today (June 22). It reads:

Las Vegas, NV – Brian Sandoval, the Republican candidate for governor, proposes laying off 1-in-5 Nevada teachers in Nevada, meaning 72 Nye County teachers would be forced out of classrooms.

That’s 72 Nye County teachers gone from our children’s classrooms. That’s larger class sizes and fewer opportunities for students. That’s Brian Sandoval’s pink-slip agenda for our schools. It would decimate education and set our struggling economy back even further.

“I am the only candidate who understands that stronger schools are the key to a stronger economy,” Rory Reid said. “We will never have a first-rate economy if we continue to accept second-rate schools. Unfortunately, like Jim Gibbons, Brian Sandoval fails to grasp that we will not draw business to Nevada if we can’t produce an educated workforce and can’t provide great schools for the children of business executives and their employees.”

Brian Sandoval proposes several crippling cuts to education:

§ Brian Sandoval wants to slash teacher salaries by 20 percent or lay off more than 5,000 teachers. That’s 1-in-5 Nevada teachers.

§ Brian Sandoval wants to divert $110 million from class-size reduction programs, particularly targeting 7- and 8-year-olds.

§ Brian Sandoval pushes a voucher program that would drain millions from our public schools and wouldn’t even begin to cover tuition for the average private school.

§ Brian Sandoval wants a 12 percent cut to faculty and staff at our colleges and universities – that’s more than 750 professor and staff jobs lost.

These cuts would have a devastating impact across Nevada. Rural and urban communities, in the North and the South, would lose their valuable teachers, leaving our children with subpar schools when Nevada already ranks dead last in the nation in graduation rates. Poor schools will continue to hinder our economic recovery and Brian Sandoval puts schools at the bottom of his agenda.

“Education will be my top priority as governor,” Rory said. “I will not compromise on our children’s future. Brian Sandoval has a different agenda, one that includes taking away money from our children’s classrooms, doing nothing to improve the quality of our schools, and doing nothing to build a new economy. That’s the choice Nevada voters face in November.”

Rory Reid is the only candidate for governor to offer solutions for today and a plan for Nevada’s future success – supporting strong schools for a stronger economy. For more information about Rory’s campaign or to download his plans — visit roryreid.com.

Note to media: To schedule interviews, please contact Mike Trask, press secretary, at 702-994-6757 or at trask@roryreid.com.

If the politicians of Nevada are so enamored of “no new taxes” that they will not impose a tax that will pay for a quality education for kids in this state then something must give.

A Reno teacher wrote a letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun about the budget cuts in Nevada’s education system. She makes valid points which should be in the minds of all Nevadans. Here is what she wrote:

Education in Nevada is a sad state of affairs

Megan Gonzalez, Reno

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 2:02 a.m.

As a Nevada teacher, I’m appalled by the recent multimillion-dollar cuts in education. Nevada ranks at the bottom in education funding, and now schools have taken a massive hit to their undersized budgets as the school districts must stretch to accommodate the vast student population.

Additionally, extreme focus on test scores has only intensified. Rather than educate, teachers are commanded by No Child Left Behind to get students to pass a state exam.

As the economy declines, parents lose their jobs, cars and homes, and students are distracted by their lives outside of school. Student achievement in socioeconomically depressed areas is often disproportionate to student achievement in more affluent areas.

Despite those circumstances, teachers are still compelled to move students toward passing a test, a test that is a minuscule, vague snapshot of a student’s capabilities. Teaching to a test leaves little room for creativity, imagination or “real world” application of skills.

The decreased funding directly contradicts the increased demands on Nevada teachers and students. If teachers are truly expected to educate instead of prepare for testing, funding for Nevada’s students must be increased, and demands for hitting an abstract bench mark must be reexamined.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

A “new” method of evaluating the effectiveness of school teachers is being explored in Washington, D.C. It is called IMPACT.

From what I read the evaluation process includes observing teachers in the classroom during the school year and evaluating their teaching techniques. Then meeting with the teacher afterward and discussing the evaluations with the teacher, offering suggestions where appropriate.

IMPACT requires each teacher be observed twice a year by an outside evaluator called a “master educator,” and three times by an administrator at the school. The teachers are measured by a point system on various criteria. Followup conferences with the teacher are then held where their performance is discussed and suggestions offered to assist the teachers in improving their teaching skills.

There is, of course, mixed reaction to the method by teachers. Some feel threatened, others welcome and praise the new method.

Now, I’m no school teacher. I did take education when I was in undergraduate school and did a stint as a student teacher. I have also taught courses in community colleges and the University of California at Chico.

I think this new IMPACT idea has some merit. I do because of my experience as a new lawyer in the Ventura County District Attorney’s office in California. The District Attorney was Woody Deem in the 1960-70s. I was hired by the office in the fall of 1968 as a law clerk, along with six others, just out of law school, awaiting the results of the bar examination in December 1968.

The newly hired class of the seven of us were schooled in the DA’s office half of every workday on conducting trials. The other half was spent assisting Deputy DAs prepare for and conduct jury trials. We were taught how to conduct ourselves during trial. Ethics. Rules of evidence. How to address and handle juries, and a myriad  of other trial matters.

The training continued until the bar results came in and we were sworn in as lawyers in late December.  My first week as a Deputy District Attorney I conducted three jury trials.

Each of us was continually evaluated by our supervisors. Those evaluations focused on our strengths and weaknesses as trial lawyers. They were objective and brutal. But they worked and were valuable in improving our trial performances.

The Ventura County DA’s office was, in my judgment, the very best in the state of California. Mr. Deem was, I think, one of the best DAs ever. The conviction rate of the office was over 90%.

I see the idea of IMPACT as similar to the evaluations we experienced as prosecutors. The focus of IMPAC appears to be different from the “No Child Left Behind” method because it shifts the focus from the students to the teacher as the means of evaluating the effectiveness of education.

Considering the problems faced currently in Nevada’s education system, and nationwide, educators should take an objective view of IMPACT and determine whether they might adopt the method here in Nevada.

The following is a letter to the editor that appeared in today’s Las Vegas Sun. It was written by a school teacher, Jeremy Christensen of Las Vegas. I’m running it here because I agree with what Mr. Christensen writes:

“It’s time to stop whining that education in Nevada doesn’t work because of a lack of funding,” Gov. Jim Gibbons said in his State of the State address last week. “We need to quit throwing money at programs that haven’t worked and don’t work for our children.”

What hasn’t worked and doesn’t work for our children is throwing clichés and ideology at problems.

This question is not as complicated as it seems. What is a reasonable cost to educate a child? Most of the other states in our nation believe that it costs more than what we spend in Nevada. How do these other states pay for the generous investments they make to educate their children?

Forty-five states in our country have an effective state-level corporate tax rate of at least 5 percent. How long have zealous ideologues proclaimed that businesses would flee if we even considered any taxes on corporations? These corporations pay taxes almost everywhere else in the United States. How long have our children suffered some of the largest class sizes in the nation and parades of long-term substitutes in vital courses such as mathematics because of this outrageous lie?

The state of Nevada is not making a good-faith effort to provide quality education for its children. Apparently our children have no voice or heroes to stand up for them and say enough is enough. The greatest sins in Sin City are committed against its children.

Governor “No New Taxes” Gibbons has a duty to those school children to see that their education proceeds with quality and unabated. It is his duty as elected governor whether he wants to raise taxes or not. I personally don’t care whether he gets re-elected or not. I didn’t vote for him to start with. I do care about the education of Nevada’s children.

All my kids are now grown with kids of their own. All still in California, which has its own financial problems. My grand daughter, Joan, will graduate from the University of California-Chico in June. She plans to then attend law school. She works and attends college now, has she has done since she started. One of my grand sons, Aaron, is attending college in California with the objective of obtaining a degree for his future as an accountant. He also works to pay for and attend school. But the financial burden of college tuition and expenses for law school are mammoth to a 22 year old.

Cutting the education budget, again, as proposed by Governor Gibbons, may be expedient to him, but not to those kids trying to get a college education.

Nevada maintains one of the lowest commitments in the nation for education. California is slipping fast, losing it’s once high education status.

I read that Nevada’s mining industry has enjoyed a low rate of taxation for 150 years. The implication being that that industry does not pay its fair share of taxes—a tax status that is unfair to ordinary taxpayers in Nevada.

I, frankly, think it is time that Governor Gibbons begin to realize that his obligation to Nevada taxpayers is higher than his adherence to his “no new taxes” creed. It is time to fairly and evenly raise taxes in Nevada, even if it requires applying a fair tax on the mining industry.

The University of California Board of Regents announced a staggering 32 percent midsemester tuition hike. Students responded by demonstrating, chanting, and occupying administration buildings.

California is leading a national trend. Higher education is becoming less affordable across the country every year. And the problem is spreading nationwide, writes Kevin Carey of Newsweek.

It takes two thirds of both houses in the California General Assembly to raise taxes.

“The young men and women rushing to the barricades on UC campuses are Ronald Reagan’s children, victims of a failed antigovernment movement that managed to turn people against taxes while leaving their appetite for public services unchecked.”

Each time a recession hits, tax-frightened state legislators raise revenue by cutting university budgets disproportionately and allowing tuition to make up the difference, a back-door levy that hits poor and middle-class students the hardest. [Read more →]

My grandaughter is just finishing up with her pre-law studies at the University of California-Chico. Next year she hopes to go to law school. She has been working at two different jobs while attending school. My own experience indicates she will also have to work while attending law school, which is more expensive than undergraduate school. She is very determined to succeed. Her parents and my wife and I try to help her but none of us are wealthy.

Earlier in the day hundreds of students marched and chanted against the increase while outside the UCLA building in Los Angeles where regents met to vote on the hike.

Protesting students and others say the increased tuition will hurt working and middle-class students who benefit from state-funded education. But officials argue that a fee increase and deep cuts in school spending are necessary because of a persistent budget crisis that has forced reductions across California’s state government.

Students chanted as they marched and waved signs at UCLA. “Education only for the rich,” one sign read.

The first tuition hike, which takes effect in January, will cost undergraduate students an additional $585 a semester. The second hike kicks in next fall, raising tuition another $1,344.

[Read more →]

President Barack Obama

Organizing for America (OFA) has officially landed in Nevada. Organizing for America is dedicated to forwarding President Obama’s agenda through grassroots action, and to creating a progressive, grassroots movement in the State of Nevada.

In order to best serve Nevada, OFA will visit cities throughout the state to re-engage and mobilize the grassroots movement in support of President Obama.

For Organizing for America to succeed, we need to hear from you – your effort and commitment are the backbone of this movement, and your input will help guide our action in Nevada. [Read more →]

Yesterday I discovered something I think is very good for Pahrump, Nevada. It is the Great Basin College facility nestled on the Pahrump Valley High School grounds.

The reason I went to the GBC building was to submit my offer to teach a course in using the Internet in researching Genealogy. I have proposed teaching the class on each Saturday of August this year.

For the first time in the six years I have lived in Pahrump I explored their building. It is really something! Spacious, with modern class rooms and filled with modern computers throughout. [Read more →]