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African-Americans like charter schools
01/11/2012

Last week several civil rights groups, like the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, attacked the concept of charter schools in a report (both groups have since distanced themselves from the report, but not necessarily from their attack on charter schools). But as it turns out, a majority of African-Americans now support charter schools.

Dr. Paul Peterson of Harvard University writes in the Wall Street Journal,

“Each year we provided respondents the same, neutral description of charter schools, followed by the question: "Do you support or oppose the formation of charter schools?" Those interviewed were also given the choice of saying they "neither support or oppose" charters.

Support for charters among African Americans rose to 49% in 2009, up from 42% in 2008. This year it leapt upward to no less than 64%. Among Hispanics support jumped to 47% in 2010, from 37% in 2008.

Opposition to charters is expressed by 14% of African-Americans and 21% of Hispanics. Twenty-three percent of African-Americans and 33% of Hispanics take a neutral position.

Among the public as a whole, charter supporters currently outnumber opponents by a margin of better than 2 to 1. Forty-four percent say they are in favor of charters, while 19% stand in opposition. Parents in general are even more supportive of charter schools: 51% like them, 15% don't.”

So why are civil rights groups ignoring their constituents? Dr. Peterson concludes,

“By casting their lot firmly with teachers unions, the leadership of the NAACP and the Urban League hope to preserve their power and safeguard their traditional sources of financial support. Not only is this is a cynical strategy, it ignores where African-Americans and Hispanics are on the issue. Thankfully, the Obama administration is paying attention to the needs of low-income, minority communities and not to their purported leaders."

For more on this subject, check out my new commentary, titled "Civil rights groups’ education proposal misses the mark."

Not only do the teacher unions have more power and influence than the largest corporations on earth, but they protect bad teachers in the classrooms and block meaningful reforms that benefit students. Bad teachers pay dues and, well, education reforms decentralize power and reduce union influence.

Read the Education Next article titled "Invisible Ink in Teacher Contracts" to learn more about the power and influence of the teacher unions.

," the NEA spent $56.3 million in the 2007-08 election cycle, more than all of the above combined!

Between the NEA and AFT (the other major teacher union), the unions spent $71.7 million on political campaigns during the 2007-08 election cycle. The NEA almost always fronts money for politicians and voter initiatives to raise taxes or to fight tax cuts and tax-limitation measures. Naturally, the unions also fight against parental choice and charter schools, both of which limit their influence by decentralizing control over education.

During the 2007-08 election cycle, the teachers unions spent $812,000 in Nevada. Teacher union spending in Nevada amounts to $34.68 per teacher, ranking Nevada 11th highest in the nation.

The NEA also funds many left-wing organizations like America Votes, the Economic Policy Institute, People for the American Way, the Center for American Progress, and Media Matters. The NEA also funds dubious academic research centers like Arizona State's Education Policy Research Unit, which is highly critical of charter schools and conservative/libertarian organizations, and the left-wing Great Lakes Center for Education Research, which pretends it's not an NEA front group even though the bulk of its funds come directly from the NEA.

01/11/2012

Oh yes.

Davis Guggenheim's Waiting for "Superman" is unforgettable.

Guggenheim directed An Inconvenient Truth and It Might Get Loud. However, even more so than the issue of global warming (somehow), the questions and concerns raised by Waiting for "Superman" are deep and effect us all. Public education in America is collapsing. Students are not being served, and neither are tax payers. Whether or not teachers' unions are partly to blame is open to discussion, but Guggenheim's film casts a light on that perspective.

And once you get a peek at New York City's "Rubber Room" for outcast teachers, you may never view the NEA and the AFT the same way again.

This is a monumentally important film. My father was a public school teacher for 28 years and I can think of few other areas in our society that deserve this type of urgent scrutiny right now.

Even better is that this isn't the first time a Huffington Post writer has praised "Waiting for 'Superman.'"

“Waiting for ‘Superman’” opens next weekend in Las Vegas at Regal Village Square 18. Sadly, I don't think it's showing anywhere in the Reno area.

Here's the trailer. I can't wait to see this film and I hope you'll see it, too.

So even though Nevada's universities are mispending scarce resources on non-educators they are facing a tougher financial time than they're used to; but that doesn't mean we should hand over more tax dollars or dramatically increase tuition and fees on students.

Just looking at the last 10 years alone shows a large spike in tuition and fees for higher education. From the 2000-01 school year to 2009-10, UNLV's and UNR's published tuition and fees increased 73.9 percent and 64 percent, respectivly (inflation-adjusted). The most dramatic jump has been in student fees.

Note: total price includes tuition, fees, books, supplies and the cost of living on campus.

Table 2: Inflation adjusted price increase in Nevada higher education from 2000 to 2010.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS database

Worse still, tuition and fees continue to rise. Even though the Consumer Price Index fell by 0.4 percent between 2008 and 2009 and has only grown 1.76 percent since last year, the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents approved a statewide 5 percent increase in undergraduate tuitions. The hyperinflation in higher education is simply unsustainable.

This rapid increase in revenue has not increased the quality of either UNR or UNLV. No student is learning 60 to 70 percent more, even though students are paying 60 to 70 percent more in tuition and fees than students from just 10 years ago.

Both universities must learn to live within their means while providing a higher-quality service at a reasonable (and probablay lower) cost/price. If we don't fix the problem now, then the higher-education bubble burst will - and the situation will be even more painful then.

01/11/2012

*To Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Klaich, employing one person for every 5.9 students is not bloat.

News 4 in Reno lets Chancellor Dan Klaich get the last word in on university bloat, which is unfortunate, because I had such a good comeback line.

Klaich claims, accurately, that UNR and UNLV are less bloated and more efficient with staffing than other universities. NPRI has never disputed that.

But like almost all universities, UNLV and UNR have been dramatically increasing the size of staff - specifically, highly paid non-educators (whom NSHE does not want to call "administrators"). In fact, UNLV and UNR are increasing the number of highly paid non-educators faster than the student body.

Worse still, they've increased the number of employees per student and the dollars per student, but neither UNLV nor UNR can graduate 50 percent of its students after six years.

But back to Klaich's bragging about the bloat - or non-bloat, as he see's it.

Is being more efficient than the average four-year university really something to celebrate? As I told Victoria Campbell from News 4, what Klaich is doing is akin to "bragging about being 150 pounds overweight instead of 200 pounds."

There is still a lot of work to be done - namely, graduating educated students rather than providing university jobs for adults.

fund political campaigns for things that have nothing to do with education?

(we just pay more money for the same talent pool), so maybe merit pay has the long-term potential to attract higher-quality teachers. At this point, we still don't know.

Dr. Matthew Ladner (vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute and a policy fellow at the Nevada Policy Research Institute) still supports the idea of merit pay (for reasons including those given by Eric Hanushek) and wonders why merit pay worked in Little Rock, Ark., but not in Tennessee. He thinks more research on the right way to do merit pay is still needed.

Dr. Jay P. Greene (University of Arkansas) claims to have always been skeptical of merit pay (and now is even more skeptical). He reasons that creating market forces (via merit pay) won't work when the teachers are still operating within an uncompetitive, government-controlled monopoly. According to Dr. Greene, the whole system needs to change.

Since the Clark County School District (CCSD) educates 3 out of every 4 children and spends $3 out of every $4 on K-12 education in the Silver State, examining its budget provides a reliable estimate for the overall health of spending in Nevada. So how are we doing in this economic downturn?

Since the massive 2003 tax hikes began funding K-12 education in 2004, CCSD's total budget has increased 9.2 percent per-pupil, operating budget 9.8 percent and salaries and benefits for employees 12.1 percent. From the end of one recession to the end of another, CCSD has more money per-pupil, even after adjusting for inflation. Hardly tough sledding and we suspect the same story is true for most of the other school districts in Nevada.

So even with the "massive budget cuts" K-12 education has seen in the last two years, per pupil spending is still higher today than it was from 2000-01 through 2005-06 school years.

But as you've heard from media reports and pundits (almost daily) for the last two years is that education has been "cut to the bone."

Since the recession began at the end of 2007, CCSD's per-pupil spending from the general operating fund (yes, even adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars) has declined by a "massive" 1.01 percent.

Yup, 1 percent budget reduction - right down to the bone.

But as I've stated numerous times, the operating budget ($6,900 per-pupil) isn't the total budget ($11,900 per-pupil). CCSD's total budget per-pupil has declined by an "impressive" 3.3 percent.

So are the children really suffering with a 1 percent decline in the operating budget and a 3.3 percent decline in the total budget? Hardly, it's the policymakers and bureaucrats that are "suffering" because they have to make adult decisions on how to use scarce resources more effectively.

2004 was the first full school year in which the 2003 tax increases (largest in state history) were available to fund education (also the first year available in detail from the Clark County School Districts detailed budgets). Since 2004, CCSD's general operating fund (what they consider the day to day operating budget for the school district) increased by 9.8 percent.

Salary and Benefits for CCSD employees grew by 12.1 percent - more than the operating budget and total budget.

This isn't surprising. After all, in 1955 the Clark County School District employed 1 person for every 20 students; today they employ one person for every 8.6 students. We have more employees in education earning far larger salaries and benefits, but is this investment producing the results we need?

Maybe it is time we start thinking about the outcomes for children rather than how many jobs K-12 education can provide for adults?

FYI, if you think 2004 is an arbitrary figure to select, that date is higher than 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 with 2000 being the low point in the last decade. And if you are worried about the recent budget cuts, these increases are AFTER the budget cuts. In fact, per-pupil spending devoted to salary and benefits hasn't gone down...AT ALL since the recession started.

01/05/2012

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01/05/2012

Southern Nevada boasts an abundance of well-designed, beautifully maintained resort courses geared toward a typical recreational golfer -- who, contrary to anecdotal evidence gathered at a 19th hole -- shoots in a neighborhood of 100 during a round. TPC Las Vegas is not exactly one of those courses.This observation isn't intended as a criticism. After all, a course designer took considerable measures to accommodate players of varying skill levels, including a use of a "blended" set of tees for players who don't find a white resort tees quite long enough but are a little overmatched from a blues.Conditions at TPC Las Vegas are predictably immaculate, and a facility exudes a level of refined professionalism that is unsurpassed in a valley. The cautionary note is only warranted because too many players base their performance expectations on a listed yardage; on this course, distance is a least of one's concerns.Case in point is a opening hole, a short par 4 that plays only 359 yards from a tips. For longer hitters, a fort jutting in from a left is in play, but laying back to a comfortable wedge distance is advisable anyway. Any shots that land on a front or left sides of a putting surface will almost certainly roll off a edge, so precision with a short approach is mandatory. Most players are content to escape with a two-putt par, only to discover that this is TPC Las Vegas' second easiest hole.This gentle opener is followed by arguably a single most intimidating shot on a course. This 196-yard par 3 features an island green amid a sea of stone, demanding a fully committed swing. There is a small bailout zone to a right, while a greenside fort beckons like a life raft. With some of a most consistent, firm sand players will ever blast from, it's easy to understand how tour pros have such great control from a beach.At 604 yards, a par-5 sixth hole is a longest offering on a front side. A legitimate three-shot hole for most players, a key to success is avoiding a numerous bunkers and thick, juicy rough.! Taking less club from a tee is prudent for those whose drivers tend to stray in either direction, because a only safe spot is in a middle of a fairway. The second shot must lift or skirt a trap that juts in from a right, with a ideal finishing position being along a fairway's left side to minimize a influence of a front greenside bunker. Players should beware of a forward pin placement, because any approach near a green's front edge will likely trickle back down into a throat.The outward road ends as it began, with a short par 4 that is far more difficult than it appears. The desert fronting a tee boxes requires more lift than one would think, and only supernatural drivers should try to lift a wide fort that barricades a fairway's entire left side. Those who take a more conservative route to a right are "rewarded" with a semiblind approach to a shallow, well-fortified green.The back nine opens with two long par 4s that demand respect. Following a 419-yard offering to begin a trek comes a 444-yard beast. Reaching this green requires two solid shots, with a drive skirting a left fairway fort representing a ideal line. The putting surface is defended by a solitary fort along a right, making a long, run-up approach a more feasible proposition.Although players are buoyed by a prospect of a 365-yard par 4 at No. 14 -- a only par 4 on a back nine that is not well over 400 yards -- a enthusiasm quickly fades when they reach a tee box and can't find a hole. Unless one has a good fortune to play with one of TPC Las Vegas' affable members, this hole in itself justifies a purchase of a yardage book.The target from a tee should be a distant steeple; on that line, a desert bordering a fairway's right edge is not a factor, and a intimidating approach is merely nerve-rattling. While clubbing down might seem prudent given a blind tee shot, adding distance to a second shot that must lift a green-fronting ravine is an unwise strategy.TPC Las Vegas ends with, surprise, a very tough par 4 measuring 448 yards from a back and an impr! essive 4 21 yards even from a combination tees. A pair of bunkers brackets a fairway, but a left one is out of reach for most players. Even from a short grass, however, a second shot is daunting, with water coming into play at about 100 yards out and continuing to a slender green's left edge. A bevy of bunkers borders a putting surface, providing little margin for error. To avoid a big number, players with more accomplished short games should at least consider intentionally missing short to take a water and bunkers out of play, then scrambling for a up-and-down save.TPC Las Vegas is one of a few courses in Southern Nevada where players can score five strokes over their average and still leave feeling good about a round. While this is anything but a walk in a park, it does provide both an excellent challenge and an accurate barometer for a state of one's game.TPC Las Vegas is located at 9851 Canyon Run Drive in a heart of Summerlin. For information or to reserve a tee time, call 256-2000 or visit www.tpc.com/lasvegas.

01/05/2012

New Year's Eve road closures in Las Vegas By Molly Waldron CREATED Dec. 29, 2011 Tweet Share Email Print Las Vegas, NV(KTNV) -- Below is a list of New Year's Eve road closures from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. The timing of the closures is tentative and approximate. DOWNTOWN / FREMONT STREET 5:00 p.m. - Fremont Street Experience closed to Public. 6:00 p.m. - Fremont Street gates open for entertainment.LAS VEGAS BLVD5:30 p.m. - Closing of freeway off ramps. 6:00 p.m. - All walkways, elevators and escalators shut off. 6:15 p.m. - Traffic officers start closure of Las Vegas Blvd. 6:30 p.m. - Las Vegas Blvd closed to car traffic. 6:30 p.m. - Inbound roads to Las Vegas Blvd are cleared. 12:00 a.m. - 12:15 am Fireworks show Strip and Fremont Street. 12:15 a.m. - Walkways and escalators to be re-opened. 1:00 a.m. - 1:30 a.m. All celebrations normally subside. Barricades are moved. 2:00 a.m. - Street sweepers begin clean up. 3:00 a.m. - 4a.m. Begin re-opening. Next Article in Local News: Henderson launches program to help locals lose weight 0 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT

Information for Reno, Nevada

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Latitude: 39.52711 -- Longitude: -119.821812

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African-Americans like charter schools
01/11/2012

Information for Reno, Nevada

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African-Americans like charter schools 01/11/2012

African-Americans like charter schools
01/11/2012