Our schools get a D-plus

Monday, Jan. 14, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Nevada has again earned a dismal grade from the annual Quality Counts report, which evaluates how states compare nationally in their support of K-12 schools.

Evaluators gave the state a D-plus. That grade, however, to be fair, must be put into perspective the national average for states was only a C.

Both the national average for state grades and Nevada’s individual grade are strong indicators that education must become a much higher priority in Washington and throughout the country.

Quality Counts is researched and published by Editorial Projects in Education Inc., the Bethesda, Md., company that produces Education Week (www.edweek.org), a respected trade publication. Assisting in the research was the Pew Center on the States, affiliated with the nationally known Pew Research Center.

What hurt Nevada was the evaluators’ conclusion that the state is weak in the areas of early childhood education, preparing students for college, standardized test scores and in both paying teachers and providing them with incentives for improving student achievement.

The report noted that Nevada’s per-pupil expenditure for 2005 (the latest year for which it had statistics) was $7,141 compared with the national average of $8,973.

On its own the report is discouraging, but it is doubly so when considering the state’s budget crisis. Revenue inordinately dependent on sales and gaming taxes is coming in well below projections. A deficit of more than $500 million is looming, which has prompted Gov. Jim Gibbons to order a 4.5 percent cut in most state services.

For K-12 schools, that means a reduction of at least $92.5 million when investment in education, not a cut, is desperately needed. A cut that severe might have been avoided if Gibbons had convened a special session of the Legislature and listened to its members’ thoughts.

For the long run, however, the state’s course is clear. It must reform its tax system so that education and other services are funded at least enough to avoid their consistently below-average ratings.