At the Legislature on Thursday in Carson City, Democratic lawmakers, from left, Sen. Joyce Woodhouse of Henderson, Sen. Steven Horsford of Las Vegas and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus of Las Vegas introduce an education empowerment plan to counter a proposal by Gov. Jim Gibbons. Photo by The Associated Press

CARSON CITY -- Democrats in the Nevada Legislature introduced their own school empowerment plan on Thursday, saying it would cost nothing and accomplish the goal of involving teachers, parents and community leaders in improving student achievement.

Senate Bill 304 is the result of research by Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who traveled to New York and Georgia last year to study empowerment programs under way in those states.

"Empowerment is one approach to many initiatives that can help move public education forward in Nevada," he said. "It is not a silver bullet. Empowerment is not a program, it is a process."

To be successful, the empowerment process still requires a further financial commitment to education, including all-day kindergarten and better teacher pay, Horsford said.

Gov. Jim Gibbons has proposed his own empowerment program. It would cost $60 million and be put into place in 100 schools statewide. Under Gibbons' plan, principals would be authorized to hire teachers, award incentive pay, set school schedules and develop achievement plans for each student. Schools would receive an additional $550 each year per student.

Under the Democratic plan, called LEAPS, or Local Empowerment and Accountability for Public Schools, schools could apply to their districts to be involved in the program. A minimum of five percent of the schools in Clark and Washoe counties would have to designated by the 2008-09 school year. This equates to about 16 schools in Clark County and five schools in Washoe County. Rural districts would choose on their own whether to participate in the program.

There is a separate pilot empowerment program operating in Clark County now at four schools implemented by district officials.

Under the plan introduced Thursday in the state Senate, small teams of school representatives, including parents and teachers, would petition the school district for designation as one of the empowerment schools.

It would give 90 percent of a school's funding to the discretion of community members, parents and teachers at the school. Currently just over 60 percent of a school's funding in Clark County goes to direct student instruction, Horsford said. The remaining 10 percent would be for central administration requirements.

"The decision-making will be initiated by local stakeholders in the school, not central administration or state agencies," Horsford said.

In addition, various local and state mandates governing schools could be suspended at the empowerment schools, Horsford said.

One example is class-size reduction mandates. Although Horsford said he believes small class sizes are critical to student success, there could be some flexibility allowed in the program at an empowerment school.

"In exchange for that autonomy, there is some increased accountability," he said.

These measures include quarterly reporting and an annual audit that shows exactly where the school's budget is being spent.

If an empowerment school fails to meet the accountability standards, its designation could be revoked if deficiencies are not addressed.

If a school decides there is a need for a longer school day or school year, it could apply to the various education grant programs now in place, which total $290 million, to accomplish those goals, he said.

Any of these changes would also have to be negotiated with various union groups.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said unlike the program proposed by Gibbons, the Democratic plan does not require $60 million in funding and accomplishes empowerment from the ground up, not from the top down.

"We think this is a great way to go," she said. "It's reasonable in its goals. It has accountability built into it which the governor's (plan) does not have."

Titus and other lawmakers who presented the empowerment proposal at a news conference, said they would prefer to see the $60 million allocated for empowerment by Gibbons returned to its original use. The money has been used to provide incentives to teachers who teach at at-risk schools or who teach in difficult-to-fill subjects such as science and math.

Titus predicted the proposal could win passage in the Senate, where Republicans hold an 11-10 majority.

Horsford said his empowerment plan has been presented to Gibbons, who reacted favorably to many of the ideas.

Clark County School District officials had not seen the legislation and had no immediate comment.

Clark County's current pilot program is costing about $600 more per student because of the cost to pay teachers who work a longer school day and year. Clark County district officials had to negotiate with three local unions in order to offer some of the changes at Clark County's empowerment schools.

Teachers at empowerment schools work five extra days in the school year and 29 minutes more each school day.

Superintendant Walt Rulffes has said he would like to expand the district's pilot by 40 schools beginning in the 2008-09 school year.

The Nevada State Education Association welcomed the Democrat proposal.

"We applaud the commitment the Democratic Senate leadership demonstrated in introducing SB304," said President Barbara Clark. "We support programs that will enhance student learning, and this empowerment plan involves a variety of groups to assure this happens.

"Since LEAPS should have little impact on the state general fund, it is fiscally responsible and therefore will not take current funds away from key programs already in place," she said.