Governor sandoval's education plan

C R E AT E D BY:C R A I G S T E V E N S

D I R E C T O R O F G OV E R N M E N T R E L AT I O N SN E VA D A S TAT E E D U C AT I O N A SS O C I AT I O N

Governor Sandoval’s Education Plan

Overview

Sandoval’s plan calls for: Salary Cuts for all educators Redistribute Room Tax money into the

General Fund for two years The elimination of the Class Size Reduction The elimination the Full-Day Kindergarten

program End teacher tenure The elimination of making employment

decisions based on seniority.

Overview

Sandoval’s plan calls for: Elimination of pay based on higher

education degrees Pay For Performance The end of social promotion Rely heavily on student test scores. Reform educator evaluations Revamp the governance model of the

Department of Education

Sandoval’s Plan CCEA/NSEA Position

Reduce salaries of all education employees by 5%

When you include the increase of retirement benefits and freeze on steps and lanes this equals to about a 10% cut over the biennium

If Nevada is to attract and retain the best educators to our schools, cutting salaries is not the answer.

Educators have already sacrificed through a freeze in pay, layoffs, and furlough days.

Budget


Reduce Nevada’s state guaranteed basic support by $270 per student.

This will cut the state education budget by over $116 million

Nevada is currently 46th in per-pupil spending.

The Governor’s plan will drop the state to around 50th.

This is unacceptable.

Budget


Redirect Room Tax funding to the general fund for two years

The money will revert back to its original purposes of funding educator salaries and student achievement initiatives in 2014

The Room Tax was approved by the majority of Nevada voters to go towards educator salaries.

The Governor is going against the will of the people in stealing this fund to cover up Nevada’s funding inadequacies.

NSEA is encouraging its locals to continue to bargain an MOU with its school districts on using this money.

A unified stance between the school districts and the Association will help convince the Legislature that the money should go forward under its original purpose.

Room Tax Fund


Remove funding mandates for the following programs and turn them into a block grant.

Cuts the funding for the block grant by 18% Class Size Reduction Full-Day Kindergarten Early Childhood Education Library Media Specialists Special Education Counseling At-Risk Kindergarten Class Size

Reduction Several other programs

Nevada’s class sizes are already some of the highest in the country.

Cutting the school district budgets and then giving them a block grant for special programs will be ineffective.

The Block Grant program will create an inequitable education system as every school district will be offering different programs and many students will not have access to a full range of services.

Most of the programs being block granted are for the most at-risk student in Nevada. The Governor’s plan specifically will hurt those students who need the most support.

Block Grants


Ensure that school districts can make hiring or firing decisions regardless of how long an employee has been employed.

Increase the amount of years an employee is considered a probationary employee.

Eliminate the ability for a school district to RIF employees based on seniority and instead, base the decisions on educator effectiveness

How do you evaluate which educators are more effective? Who makes that determination?

Nevada currently doesn’t have a tenure system in K-12.

All employment decisions should be made at the local level as each school district has specific needs.

If a district wishes to change contract RIF language, they may bring it to the bargaining table for discussion.

Tenure & Seniority


Sandoval mentioned this during the State of the State.

No plan has been released.Sandoval believes educators

get more degrees simply to make more money.

Sandoval doesn’t believe that these degrees make someone a better educator.

Educators pay for their own advanced degrees.

Education practice is constantly changing.

The only way an educator can continue to advance in their career is to become an administrator.

By incentivizing education attainment you are keeping more educators in the classroom

Pay & Education Advancement


Provides $20 million for teacher “merit pay”

Will rely heavily on student data.

Pay for performance needs to be bargained at the local level.

Any incentive pay should not supplant an educators salary but instead supplement what the educator already earns.

Pay for performance should not pit educators against each other but instead create a collaborative atmosphere in the school.

The local community should work with school leadership to provide benchmarks and goals for the school to meet.

Pay for Performance