Getting people’s attention on school reform

Gov. Brian Sandoval wants to change the conversation.

With Nevada's political discussions focused almost exclusively on money -- Sandoval's proposed spending cuts and Democratic lawmakers' calls for new and higher taxes -- the governor is ready to start debate on a subject of equal importance: education policy.

Last week, Sandoval's reform agenda officially landed in the Legislature. The Republican used a fairly broad brush to paint his vision for improved public schools during last year's campaign, and again in his inaugural address and State of the State speech. Now, after months of talks with lawmakers, superintendents, principals, teachers and parents, those plans are spelled out, in great detail, in six bills: Assembly Joint Resolution 8, Assembly Bill 548, AB554, AB555, AB557 and AB558.

Public schools consume more resources than any other part of the state budget. And throughout Nevada's economic boom and bust, the state has been more concerned with how much money it spends on education than with how the bureaucracy spends it and whether those practices might be the problem instead of the solution.

At the Legislature -- particularly the Democratic Assembly -- K-12 reforms have long been dead on arrival. And when a single minor change to public school operations would qualify as a major accomplishment for any governor, Sandoval is pushing what he says is the most comprehensive, ambitious package of education reforms in the country.

"The goal isn't turning the establishment on its ear," Sandoval said Thursday after reading a story to a group of Las Vegas third-graders, one of four local school visits he made to mark the end of Nevada Reading Month. "It's to improve the delivery of education in Nevada. We need to change the way teachers are rewarded, we need to hold schools accountable and we need to provide more choice to parents.

"We need to change the dynamic. And we can do it in a way that helps every child in Nevada."

Sandoval's list of proposed reforms is a greatest hits package from states that have made achievement gains by rethinking education, most notably Florida. Among them:

-- Amending the state constitution to create private-school vouchers. Every child would be guaranteed half of the state's per-student funding allocation each year, and the other half of the allocation would be means tested.

-- Ending teacher tenure and requiring written evaluations of both beginning and veteran teachers.

-- Basing at least 50 percent of those evaluations on student achievement data.

-- Assigning a letter grade to each school in the state.

-- Ending social promotion by requiring students to pass a reading test to advance to the fourth grade.

-- Requiring Nevada school districts to develop open enrollment policies, so parents can move their kids to a different school if they aren't happy with the one they're zoned for.

-- Barring seniority-based, "last in, first out" bumping and layoff policies, which compel districts to retain their most experienced teachers regardless of whether they're any good, and jettison young teachers even if their students are thriving.

-- Creating a merit pay pilot program that allows top-performing teachers to collect bonuses of up to $5,000.

-- Giving schools block grants and letting them decide how to spend that money to boost achievement, whether it's through remediation or instruction for the gifted.

-- Restructuring and streamlining a confounding education governance structure straight out of "Dilbert" and making the members of the State Board of Education appointed rather than elected, giving the governor a greater role in education policy.

"We need to change the dynamic," Sandoval said. "These steps will help every child in the state."

On this issue, Sandoval actually has a measure of bipartisan support. Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, both D-Las Vegas, have acknowledged the need to institute some reforms. Sandoval said there is some agreement in Carson City on the need for greater accountability, merit pay and changes to tenure, which makes it virtually impossible to fire a bad teacher.

Given the overall performance of state schools over the years, it's impossible to defend the status quo. New Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones, in a Friday discussion with the Review-Journal's editorial board, backed the governor's plan.

"I support most of it. I really like it," said Jones, who helped bring about major reforms in Colorado before moving to the valley. "I really agree with the reform package, and I really think we can get it done."

The problem for Sandoval, however, is that no major issue in Carson City is considered in a vacuum. Democratic Party frustration with Sandoval's no-new-taxes pledge -- and the insistence of Republican lawmakers to stand by him -- makes it less likely that they'll hand him a policy victory without getting something in return. With lawmakers taking up the decennial task of redistricting, and with just two months to go in this year's session, it's prime horse-trading season in the capital.

I presented Sandoval with a hypothetical situation: If Horsford and Oceguera said they would pass all six education reform bills -- including the voucher amendment, which they hate -- in exchange for his help in delivering the GOP votes needed to extend the expiring 2009 tax increases another two years, would he make the deal?

"No, I wouldn't," he said.

"I don't think you can tie the budget to trying to improve education in a state with schools that aren't up to par. ... I'm firm in my belief that it would be very bad to raise taxes now."

The only way Sandoval can push the dialogue beyond taxes and the budget is to continue to engage lawmakers directly and spend his freshly earned political capital. He said he intends to push hard for his six bills over the final weeks, and that he's hopeful they'll "get a full, fair hearing." Sandoval is optimistic that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will testify on behalf of some of the bills.

He wants to make his proposals impossible to ignore -- just like the performance of many of our schools.

"This should get people's attention."

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is a Review-Journal editorial writer.