Breaking down barriers priority for Board of Education District 3 candidates

Poverty and difficulty with English are among the roadblocks three candidates want to remove if elected to the State Board of Education, District 3, in Tuesday’s primary.

Incumbent Felicia Ortiz was appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval in February. Now, the Las Vegas businesswoman faces challenges from Dave Hales and Barry Herr.

The candidate elected to the four-year term also will wrestle with issues such as Nevada’s chronic teacher shortage, under-performing schools and providing equal access to education, State Superintendent Steve Canavero said.

The board sets standards for students and finds ways to make federal and state dollars work toward those goals. It comes up with policies and directs money to programs aimed at keeping teachers in classrooms and getting rid of obstacles to learning.

After volunteering as a tutor, Ortiz, 37, wanted to help solve the problems that persist in public schools.

“It opened my eyes to a lot of challenges our education system is facing,” the former financial analyst said. “Fifty percent of the kids in our district look like me but there was no one at the table representing them. I wanted to be that person.”

She supports the state-mandated break-up of the Clark County School District, the nation’s fifth-largest.

Herr, 62, supports splitting the county’s 356 schools into four to six smaller districts. If elected, he said, he’ll make “fiscally conservative” decisions and spend taxpayer dollars with “common sense.”

The accountant favors putting more money toward paying experienced teachers and holding school administrators accountable. If they’re not doing the job, they should be fired, he said.

Unlike his opponents, Hales, 46, said smaller school districts aren’t necessarily less expensive and more efficient. He said his research indicates the county could benefit from splitting into as many as five school districts but he wants to analyze specific plans before making a change.

The U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel and business owner is troubled by inequities in education. He credits his success to a start in public schools and wants students today to have the same opportunity.

Schools are taking strides to ensure equal access to education. One such step is putting in place policies to prevent discrimination against transgender students or those who identify with a different gender that the one on their birth certificate.

Hales supports allowing students to use restrooms and changing areas that line up with their gender identity, even if it doesn’t match their anatomy. Although he understands why people are uncomfortable with the change, he doubts they’d notice much difference.

“They’ve probably already shared a bathroom with a transgender person and didn’t even know it,” he said.

Ortiz supports letting transgender students use any bathroom that has stalls. “When it comes to locker rooms, I’m a little more leery,” she said.

Herr has concerns too. He worries teenage boys would pretend to be transgender to get into girls’ changing areas. He said making it seem “normal” to go to the bathroom with members of the opposite sex would leave women and girls more vulnerable to a “sexual predator.”

The top two candidates will advance to the November General Election unless one wins more than 50 percent of votes in the primary on Tuesday.

Contact Amy Nile at anile@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Find @AmyNileReports on Twitter.