Teacher shortage still plagues state

By Jeremy Christensen, Las Vegas

Thursday, July 16, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Every child in Nevada deserves the best teacher we as a state can provide. Every child deserves to be in a class where he or she can be treated like an individual instead of as part of a herd.

We can’t pass legislation or institute school district policies to eliminate poverty or bad parenting, but there are things we can do to give our children a better education. The most important factor we can control is the quality of the teacher in each classroom.

Last year the Clark County School District had more than 600 long-term substitutes in our children’s classrooms. Substitutes are required to have 60 college credits, a background check and $161. That is 60 college credits in anything! That story seemed to fade away after the first few weeks of school, though.

Our governor and Legislature proclaimed that this was the education session. They passed the largest tax increase in Nevada history. How did that $1.1 billion work out for Nevada’s children and the quality teachers we want to retain and hire? Did it raise Nevada out of the bottom five states in per-pupil funding?

CCSD reported its per-pupil funding actually dropped by $15 per student and that no staff members would get raises this year. That would be the third freeze in teacher pay in the past six years and no cost-of-living raises for the past seven years. In fact, CCSD has reduced teacher pay scales several times to cover rising retirement costs and has failed to increase contributions to the Teachers Health Trust in the midst of ever-rising medical costs. Teachers are required to pay 20 percent out-of-pocket costs on all medical procedures, in addition to other fees.

What about the largest class sizes in the nation? Apparently, $1.1 billion just isn’t enough to reduce class sizes or attract and retain teachers with competitive compensation.

Is it any surprise CCSD will use long-term substitutes again next year in record numbers? The Nevada Policy Research Institute does such a wonderful job trying to recruit teachers to Las Vegas by touting the combined salaries and benefits, but this shortage shows we clearly need to do more.