Rejuvenating Our Schools

Public schools around the country are failing to adapt to changes in our economy and society resulting from the technological revolution of the past 30 years. Rejuvenating our schools through innovation and creativity is essential to preparing young people to succeed in a highly competitive world and to become critical thinkers that are good stewards of our community.

Nevada is ranked near the bottom of our nation's public schools. Nevada's children deserve an equal opportunity for the highest quality public education.

I have professional experience to help turn around public education in Nevada.  As a former adjunct professor for 10 years, I know what it's like to teach in a classroom.   As a Certified Public Accountant, I audit schools and have an understanding of their cost structure.  As a Certified Fraud Examiner, I am professional trained to hunt down waste, fraud and abuse.  As a successful local business owner, I understand that we need a long-term plan to maximize opportunities for improvement and put educational resources where they will do the most good.

If elected to the Nevada State Assembly, I intend to lead on education by advocating a clear, effective agenda.

• Nevada needs an education trust fund.  Our state is in a budget crisis largely because sales, gaming and hotel tax revenues are coming up well short of predictions, forcing harmful, across the board cuts.  Other states with no income tax and a significant tourism economy, like Florida, have created education trust funds to maintain steady funding levels.  A trust fund separates out money for an exclusive purpose.  Having an educational trust fund will allow Nevada to accumulate surpluses during good times that can be used to provide steady funding during economic downturns.

• Nevada schools need more accountability.  I support utilizing a balanced approach of a wide range of school, student and teacher accountability measurements.  I believe in choice within a public system, more rigorous school accreditation, teacher evaluation, and student achievement testing on a broad range of subjects, not just the narrow approach of No Child Left Behind.  I also believe in conducting "performance audits" which is a special form of an audit that measures how well an organization meets the needs it is supposed to serve and whether resources are being used effectively and efficient.  In essence, it measures "bang for the buck."

• Parents and students should be able to choose which public schools they wish to attend. Allowing parents and students to "vote with their feet" can be an effective tool for school accountability and student achievement. I reject all proposals for "vouchers" that would siphon off public taxpayer education dollars to private schools. I believe in uniform per pupil funding where the money follows the students to whatever public school they choose.  This forces public schools to compete for students and penalizes schools with high drop out rates.

• Teaching needs to become a respected profession with competitive pay levels. Nevada has high turnover of teachers.  We need to figure out how to attract and retain superstar teachers.  I believe funding for performance pay, the specific form of which can be negotiated in local contracts, is part of the solution

• Children need a balanced curriculum that teaches them to critically think and analyze real world issues. The No Child Left Behind Act emphasized standardized testing for reading and math proficiency, which has lead to testing to the test and reducing the teaching of science and the arts.  We need to prepare children to perform in the real world.

• Character education is sorely lacking in public schools. Stephen Covey, the famous author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" has established a center for character education and a model curriculum that is worthy of study. As a Certified Fraud Examiner, I have seen lives destroyed by weak moral character, and yes, you can teach ethical conduct. I know, because I have learned myself.