Incentive pay for teachers, full-day kindergarten and more options for high schoolers -- paid for in part by a state lottery -- are the main education proposals Nevada Democrats plan to back in the state Legislature next year.

The party unveiled its three-plank education agenda at a news conference on Tuesday, saying the measures would reduce the state's high dropout rates and improve the quality of Nevada schools, which are often at or near the bottom of rankings based on quality indicators.

The idea of rewarding teachers for measurable improvement in student performance was something of a departure for the party, which often has criticized the batteries of tests required by President Bush's No Child Left Behind law as destructive to real, creative learning.

In announcing the new plan, Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, acknowledged that it's a different direction for the party. "Democrats want to take a new approach to education," Oceguera said. "We will invest in our children and teachers, but we will expect accountability and measurable results."

Under the plan, all teachers would get a $2,000 raise, while those who "attain excellence in the classroom" based on a yet-to-be-determined measurement would get another $2,000.

At a time when the state has seen explosive growth, relatively low salaries for teachers have made it difficult for Nevada, and especially Clark County, to staff schools.

Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said the party isn't worried the plan might be opposed by teachers' groups, which have traditionally resisted performance-based pay scales. He said the idea was based on successful models in other states.

"I believe the debate has evolved," Horsford said. "The bottom line is, we need accountability for our public investment in education."

Horsford said the problem with No Child Left Behind wasn't that it encouraged "teaching to the test," but that the law's requirements were largely unfunded.

The Democrats also proposed restructuring high schools to offer more options, such as career and technology education, while at the same time raising the age for mandatory school attendance from 17 to 18. They said this would reduce dropout rates. Among states, Nevada has the second-highest proportion of students who begin the ninth grade but do not complete the 12th.

Democrats would also propose putting a constitutional amendment question before voters, allowing them to rule on whether the state should have a lottery that would be used to fund textbooks and computers for schools. The Democrats said this would generate $30 million to $50 million a year.

Democrats failed to pass a measure to that effect in the 2005 Legislature.

Many Republicans support incentive pay for teachers, and all three Republican gubernatorial candidates have said they believe teachers in Nevada should be paid more. But Horsford said the parties could be distinguished by their actions.

"It's one thing to talk about public education," he said. "Democrats are not just talking about it, we're doing something about it."