{"id":9457,"date":"2011-03-28T09:39:16","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T16:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=9457"},"modified":"2011-04-04T16:58:06","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T23:58:06","slug":"how-to-reduce-class-sizes-while-reducing-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/how-to-reduce-class-sizes-while-reducing-the-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reduce Class Sizes while Reducing the Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In invoking hyperbole and rhetoric worthy of NSHE Chancellor Dan Klaich, the Clark County School District is moaning and groaning about much-needed budget cuts coming its way thanks to Gov. Brian Sandoval standing firm on his commitment not to raise taxes. Indeed, school board President Carolyn Edwards, a teacher\u2019s union shill, lamented in a LVRJ story last week that \u201cI think we elected the wrong governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Um, except that Rory Reid also promised not to raise taxes. I guess Ms. Edwards, like most voters, believe that Reid, unlike Sandoval, wouldn\u2019t have kept his promise. Go figure.<\/p>\n

In any event, the school district is warning that budget cuts could result in laying off 2,500 government workers, including \u201ceducational computer strategists (huh?), literacy specialists (um, didn\u2019t they used to be called English teachers?), and support staff (you mean like the assistant deputy to the deputy chief of the assistant principal\u2019s janitor?).\u201d<\/p>\n

But that doomsday scenario only comes about if the teachers union refuses to take pay cuts like everyone else. It\u2019s all up to the union. If school personnel take some minor pay cuts, they\u2019ll save the jobs of a lot of their colleagues, as well as many educational programs. But since the union doesn\u2019t give a damn about the kids, expect them to dig in their greedy little heels, forcing the school district to make budget cuts that otherwise would be unnecessary.<\/p>\n

The other complaint is about the option of increasing class sizes to save money. <\/p>\n

As you may have seen, that 1990\u2019s boondoggle \u201cclass size reduction\u201d program – which has sky-rocketed in costs while resulting in no discernable improvement in student achievement – was defended by its creator, former Democrat Gov. Bob Miller, in an op\/ed last week. Regardless of the fact that the program doesn\u2019t work as advertised and costs way too much, Miller said we should keep it because\u2026well, basically, because parents feel good about it.<\/p>\n

Lovely.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s easy to fool na\u00efve parents into thinking that smaller classes headed by an incompetent teacher using an academically lame curriculum in a failed public school monopoly will actually help students learn better. But here\u2019s a way for the school district to have its cake and eat it, too.<\/p>\n

According to the LVRJ, to cover anticipated budget cuts the Clark County school district \u201cplans to increase the average class size by three students in grades 1-3, by five students in grades 4-5 and by seven students in grades 6-12.\u201d So here\u2019s a way to keep class sizes just as they are and stay within budget.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say the state is paying the school district $4,500 a year per student, OK? So what the state should do is offer the parents of three students in each \u201covercrowded\u201d Grade 1-3 classroom a voucher for $4,500 if they would enroll their child in a private school of the parents\u2019 choice. Ditto five parents in each \u201covercrowded\u201d Grade 4-5 classroom and seven parents in each \u201covercrowded\u201d Grade 6-12 classroom. <\/p>\n

Class sizes would then remain exactly where they are today without costing the state one additional dime. The parents who would love to remove their kids from public schools but otherwise couldn\u2019t afford to will be thrilled. And all those parents who feel good about Nevada\u2019s all-but-worthless class-size reduction program can remain comfortably numb in their delusion.<\/p>\n

Do you think any school district would ever consider targeted vouchers to alleviate classroom overcrowding unless forced to by taking \u201crevenue enhancements\u201d off the table? Of course not. Which is why it\u2019s so important for Gov. Sandoval to stay the course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Chuck Muth) – Do you think any school district would ever consider targeted vouchers to alleviate classroom overcrowding unless forced to by taking \u201crevenue enhancements\u201d off the table? Of course not. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9457"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9580,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9457\/revisions\/9580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}