Dark times for schools, future of our community

[teach1st]

Dark times for schools, future of our community
Las Vegas Sun, 4/30/11

There’s an intersection just west of Summerlin Hospital, where Hualapai Way crosses Crestdale Lane. On one corner sits a park where children play soccer and lacrosse. Several hundred yards away is Bonner Elementary School, one of the better performing elementary schools in the Las Vegas Valley. The crosswalk has stop signs, no traffic signals and young children warily attempt to cross five days a week on their way to and from Bonner. Drivers race through the intersection without stopping. You can spot the skittishness in the body language of many of the youngsters, but somehow drivers don’t see it or care to look. You can’t help but wonder, if we’re not willing to stop for 8- and 9-year-old children as they enter those crosswalks, why would we ever do enough to educate them?

Our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and neighbors did just that for many of us, but those were generations raised during an era of hardship — the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II. They understood self-sacrifice, the need to forgo a meal and a cup of milk so their children or younger brothers and sisters could thrive, let alone survive. They were the beneficiaries of a multitude of New Deal-inspired programs and attitudes that provided a future. A large percentage were educated by a nationwide network of public schools, which linked students, parents, teachers, administrators and the broader community.

Those of us raised during and since the Reagan years were taught to believe that government is the problem, not the answer, and taxes are not the dues of an enlightened society but rather the wages of an insatiable behemoth. We find reasons to tear at the foundation of our public school system, which contributed to the economic boom of the 20th century. And now we look the other way. Stop for those kids in the intersection? They’ll be OK. We roll through and not look back.

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[exboyfil]

1. In our state (which is purple)

K-12 education spending outpaced economic growth, inflation, and definitely wages. The way we have handled it is to leave spending to the state universities essentially flat over that period of time. If you add the total spend from local, state, and federal for K-12 and divide by the number of students you get about $14K/student. In our school district we spend about $8700K/student. A quick calculation of this school district shows it to be spending $6K/student based on their reported numbers. The story reported something like $4K/student for the secondary students. Another story (see below) says the spend is $9500/student which is near the state average of $9,855/student and more than is spent in my state. A good question would be why does spending at this level result in these class.
sizes.http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20110417/NEWS/110419677

Nevada kicks in more per pupil at a state level than does my state ($5K vs. $4.4K). In my particular school district (which actually spends less per pupil than larger surrounding urban school districts), we spend less per pupil and we do not see the large class sizes than what is experienced in Clark County. A cost of living calculator shows it is 11% more expensive to live in Las Vegas than my community. These types of numbers are in stark contrast to what is actually going on in Clark County. Where is the spending going? I know the answer - Clark County has to deal with a very heterogeneous population of native Spanish speakers than my district. This requires them to spend dollars that my school district does not need to spend.

Schools used to be a very local consideration. It was the responsibility of the local community to educate children. Now I don't know if the spend is heterogenous across the school district, but, if it is not, then Clark County is asking the people of Nevada and the country to spend more per student to help educate their kids than our own kids. You can see why that would cause some level of tension. What used to be considered a local function has moved to being a state and even federal function. It is hard to develop a larger national consensus for such a situation.