Area woman misses memo, goes badly off message

No one is more opposed to raising taxes or establishing new taxes than Nevada Republicans -- except of course Nevada Democrats.

And thank goodness, too! Because the last thing this state needs as the governor and legislators prepare to take Nevada a few more irreversible steps down the road to intractable decline and everlasting wretchedness is a bunch of Democratic elected officials (and/or candidates) getting pressured by allies to do something that might be construed as politically controversial, no?

So can someone please explain exactly what the hell all this is about?

NSEA President Lynn Warne testified before the Interim Finance Committee today pressing legislators to look to large corporations and industries who pay little or no taxes to the state.

“…I must tell you that we all are tired of the hand-wringing and the seemingly rehearsed response ‘there is no appetite for taxes.’ Well, there is even less of an appetite for schools with overcrowded classrooms, a state that ranks at the bottom in per-pupil expenditures, conditions that impede a teacher’s ability to teach and a student’s ability to learn,” asserted Warne. “And how can you perpetuate that canard when there are large corporations and industries that pay little or no taxes in our state?”

No no no no no, you Lynne Warne person. You're just supposed to wring your hands and furrow your brow and sigh heavily and be against further cuts. You're not supposed to actually be for something. Geesh.

If Warne can't get a clue from watching Democratic politicians, maybe she should look to her colleagues who are supposed to be advocating to protect higher education. They've got the Nevada Way -- being against budget cuts while failing to be for anything else -- down stone cold.

Comments

[GaryIndiana]

What conscientious person isn't for adequate funding of our schools, but one can still wish the school district would be a little bit more forthcoming about the expense of all the "support personnel" & non-essential administrators & bureaucrats they have staffed in all those nondescript little offices tucked on and around East Flamingo between Eastern & Pecos. Take just as an example, that fancy new TV studio. How much does it cost the District (us taxpayers) to operate THAT questionable facility, I'd like to know.

[Douglas Democrat]

The problem is that everyone is talking about Clark County and Washoe County as if they were the be-all and end-all of the K-12 system.

What are Douglas County, Elko County, and Lyon County (among others) supposed to do? They already contend with widely scattered districts (increasing transportation costs), low numbers of "support personnel", and limited means to cut funding outside of laying off sizable chunks of their teaching and in-school support staff.

[The Sin City Siren]

I'm sorry but Nevada needs to wake up and smell the coffee. It's not just time to pass tax increases on corporations who do not pay anything (or a pittance, in the case of mining), it's PAST DUE! Let's take a cue from our NW neighbors in Oregon and pass taxes on companies that have been getting away free!

My God, Nevada, we're already at the bottom of the state ranking for high school success; college graduates and at the top of rankings for high school drop-outs! Do we really need that getting worse?! Nut up!

[David McKee]

Gary, I presume the "fancy new TV studio" to which you refer is the fugly building at McLeod & Flamingo (which ruined my view of the Mt. Charleston massif). That particular edifice is the pride and joy of the local public TV outlet, not a CCSD project, despite its proximity to CCSD HQ.

[dave404]

Speaking of Mt. Charleston, they have an elementary school, the Earl B. Lundy Elementary School, whose total expenditure is a considerable $23,274 per student (more than 3x Nevada average). How do the students of Lundy, which enjoy funding that far exceeds many other Nevada students fair on standardized tests? Who knows, the data has been pulled and is no longer reported (I thought the law required it to be published), but when it was public last year, the children were failing by a stunning percentage.

I am sympathetic to Ms. Warne, but disagree with her testimony in that I believe there is still plenty of blame to be heaped on uncaring and disengaged parents; more so than low funding. How does Ms. Warne explain Asian and White population generally passing assessment tests while generally the Black and Hispanic populations are failing?

Eureka County now has no data on Nevadareportcard website...though they spend $25,490 per student.

Mineral County? More than 50% of students are failing math and the per capita spending is $10,290 per student. Schurz, the other elementary school in Mineral County spends $14,973 per student, but there is no data on their assessment tests on the nevadareportcard site.

Humboldt County's McDermitt elementary school spends $23,395 per student and, yup, no info on how the students do on assessment tests.

As a taxpayer, I am frustrated that information necessary to evaluate the cost benefit of higher per student spending is seemingly withheld or not reported on required public access sites.

I do note that in CC Asian and White students are, generally speaking, passing assessment tests while Blacks and Hispanics are not. I look forward to a policy that addresses action on closing the cultural gap.

Gleaner, were any local school board members, elected citizens charged with education in their respective county, on hand to address the IFC yesterday or was it only staff who addressed the legislature? I think local school boards are cowards in that they don't use the laws on the books to advance education in their districts and blame others for their failures. Pop Quiz! How many BDR's have been submitted in the past 25 years by a local school board to increase education revenues?.....

[Nevada Ned]

Critics of the public schools should try something new: visit a public school and have a talk with a teacher or two.

Here's a true story: a middle school science teacher was preparing to give one of the standardized tests to her class. Schools these days are judged by the test scores of the students. A few days before the test, a new student joined her class. The student, an immigrant from Mexico, had never been in a school before. The student had been homeless in Mexico. Not only had he never been in a school before, he had rarely been in a building. He is completely illiterate in English or Spanish.

A couple of days later, the student took the standardized test along with the other students in the class. She showed him how to fill in the little circles on the test sheet with a pencil. Of course, he was filling in the circles at random.

The test results of this student get added to the scores of the rest of the class, in judging whether this teacher is doing her job. The student flunks the test? The schools must be failing.

How typical is this story? I told it to a group of administrators at CCSD because I was shocked. They said that stuff like this happens all the time.

Readers of the RJ ought to think twice before condemning the public schools.

[Douglas Democrat]

"Readers of the RJ ought to think twice before condemning the public schools."

You're asking the readers of the R-J to think?

Boy you're an incurable optimist, aren't you?

[/snark]

[Carolyn]

Corporations should pay their sharing Mining and all those who have been getting away need to pay but we need to ask nicely. Hmmmm and legislate harshly….

[dave404]

NN...

You bring up important and pertinent info! I am curious as to why Mt. Charleston, mostly White is having issues with so many students failing. And, Humboldt and Mineral are pretty White if my recollection is correct.

But, you are correct, there are a lot of broken teeth in the gears of public education at the federal, state and local levels. I just read where an overhaul of the federal education legislation, now called LNCB, would be more difficult than the health care legislation!

Was public education this 'bad' in the 1950's and 60s? Calculator? Try a slide rule! ....yet we were able to send men to the moon with that education system.