Empowerment Schools See Stormy Horizon
December 23rd, 2007Governor Gibbons called it the “Washington Monument” phenomenon. Unprofessional government managers, who have lost sight of their actual mission (to reduce inefficiencies in the most inefficient pursuit known to mankind) and replaced it with self-service (to increase funding for their program no matter what), react to not being able to spend as much as they wanted to by closing down the most popular or functional parts of government first. In the federal government, they would close down the Washington Monument first.
Now, the administrators of Nevada’s largest school district have been told their planned 12% per year funding increase will only be 10%.
Will they continue to expand Empowerment Schools, the most effective approach to improving academic achievement Nevada has ever seen?
December 29th, 2007 at 7:54 am
If the State reduces it’s contribution to a school distrcit by 4.5% I think you should just say that. If you want to say that the State’s contribution to a local district is ‘x’ and that a 4.5% reduction in ‘x’ means the overall budget for that district will thus be reduced by ‘z’, then say that. But right now, you’re just doing hokus-pokus and sounding like a politician and not at all like a serious public policy guy. I think you are better policy guy than having to resort to slight of hand hyperbole.
Instead of 12% increase they are getting a 10% increase???? If the increase was 12%, then a reduction of 4.5% is .375, or a 37.5% reduction from 12%, or said another way, instead of a 12% increase, it would be a 7.5% increase.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I guess I was unclear. School funding is according to a formula that is most decidedly unclear.
Because the state general fund is only part of school funding, the 4.5% reduction you read about in the papers will have the effect of reducing school funding by around 2%. This will reduce the increase in K-12 overall funding from 12% per year to 10% per year - both rates well in excess of enrollment growth and inflation.
December 29th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Ahh, it’s obvious that Mark D is a government hack. I bet he’s from the educrat section. Cooking numbers is what they are all about!
December 29th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Helen, I am not a government employee. I happen to like public policy and politcal process, and I appreciate it when others engage in same, but maintaing honesty. However, if you are suggesting that ‘cooking numbers’ means the proginator is an ‘educrat section’ [member], than I observe you have just addressed your comments to Mr. Beers, as his verbage and financial alacrity are at question.
By what mathmatical forumula does one reduce 12% by 4.5% and arrive at 10%???? Oh, by saying ‘overall’, which means the myraid of funding mechanisms that fund a given school district. One has to be very careful to catch the adroit phraseology. The 10% still remains completley ficticious, but as Hitler said, tell the lie enough and it becomes a truth. My review of the 17 Counties does not support your conclusion, let alone your variables. I acknowledge you speak most grandly of the 12% ‘overall’ increase in funding, meaning slot machine licensing, ad valorem tax, sales tax et cetera, and not exclusively the State’s contribution, county by county.
Senator Beers, please support the Govenor on a much more honest review of the funding/enrollment issue. Again, I believe you are better than a politician pandering to a base with hyperbole.
BTW Helen, I don’t believe for a minute that you personally pay any tax related to your business. If you know anything about business, and I think you do, those are operating cost that you valuate price into your products.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:14 am
Mark D is picking nits. As Bob states, either way, school funding is in excess of enrollment growth and inflation.
There is an old saying: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” The public school system doesn’t educate anyone. People educate themselves. The public schools try to force all students to learn the same things at the same pace. No allowances for individual differences. It’s a failed system. Throwing money at it and tinkering with it won’t alter the underlying fact that the system is and always will be a total failure. Money and coercion don’t work to educate.
January 5th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Instead of the State reducing the “contribution” to the school district why not take away the credit cards and vehicles of the school administrators? Let them use their own transportation for shopping and pay for the Starbucks from their own pockets, not ours.