The Reno Gazette-Journal - Titus Outlines Educational Plan In Governor's Contest

Titus Outlines Educational Plan In Governor's Contest

RAY HAGAR
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 5/1/2006

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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dina Titus unveiled her 14-point education plan Sunday at the state teachers convention in Reno, using the forum to take subtle swipes at some of her Democratic and Republican rivals for governor.

Titus, the senate minority leader from Las Vegas, criticized U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, for his Education First Initiative; Henderson Democratic Mayor Jim Gibson for his plan to get more parents and grandparents volunteers in school; and state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, for his Tax and Spending Control for Nevada initiative.

All three miss the main problem of Nevada's public education system, that it is inadequately funded, Titus said.

"The main reason we are not doing as well as we should is that we have failed to make education a real priority and have failed to fund it adequately," Titus said.

Titus' speech was sometimes drowned out by loud applause from the more than 300 delegates to the Nevada State Education Association convention at the Peppermill Hotel-Casino. Titus, already endorsed by the NSEA, was the only gubernatorial candidate invited to speak to the teachers union.

"She said the things that we needed to hear about education, how important it is that it is funded properly and how we need to create an environment that is best for teachers and students," said Amanda Martin, a pre-kindergarten and special education teacher at Gene Ward Elementary School in Las Vegas. "We are here for the same reasons. This is our passion. We have devoted our lives to this; and if she can help us, she is the one (candidate) for us."

A spokesman for Gibbons took exception to Titus' criticism of the Education First initiative, which would force state lawmakers to fund the public education budget before any other. The measure was approved by voters in 2004 but still needs voter approval in this year's general election to become law.

"It is disingenuous for Dina Titus to suggest that Education First is not important, especially considering it was supported by voters by a wide margin in 2004," Gibbons' spokesman Robert Uithoven said. "We are confident that voters will support it in this year's election, too."

Titus said of the plan: "A number of proposals have been thrown out there. One of them is that you have to fund education first. Well, let me tell you what: You can fund it first; but if it is still inadequate, I don't care what day or time you fund it, it is still inadequate."

Titus' education plan includes many items that were also included in the platform Gibson unveiled last week in Las Vegas, including full-day kindergarten, substantial raises for teachers and preserving the Millennium Scholarship.

Titus drew applause when she criticized Gibson's plan to get parents and grandparents involved in volunteer programs.

"Then there are those who think you can solve the problem by calling for more volunteer programs, after-school programs with grandparents reading with children," Titus said. "Well, we love volunteer programs. That's great. But that is inadequate. That is not going to solve the problem.

"The places that need it the most don't have parents or grandparents who can volunteer. So it is a sounds-good, feels-good Band-Aid on the problem. You are treating education like a charity, not like a priority."

Titus should have read Gibson's education plan more closely, Gibson spokesman Adam Candee said.

"If Dina Titus had read our plan before copying our pages to use in her plan, she would have known that our education program goes well beyond volunteer efforts," Candee said. "It involves funding for full-day kindergarten for every school, meaningful raises in teacher salaries, endowing of the Millennium Scholarship and a number of other points that address the most glaring needs of education in Nevada."

Titus' ideas, however, included using some the state surplus to help struggling school districts with costs of building new schools and maintaining older schools, setting up language immersion programs for students who do not speak English as their first language and establishing scholarship and loan forgiveness programs to help teachers obtain master's degrees.

The lack of those programs are driving teachers out of the education business, Titus said. Ten percent of teachers leave the profession after their first year in Nevada and 50 percent leave after five years, Titus told her audience.

"I know that other states are doing similar things and they have higher retention rates," said Esmeralda Duque, a teacher at Ries Elementary School in Las Vegas. "I moved here three years ago, and I have considered moving back to Michigan many times because it is too expensive to live here. I know back in Michigan I can get my master's paid for. If I can go back to a state that pays more and helps you get your master's, why not go back?"

Titus said Beers' Tax and Spending Control for Nevada initiative, which proposes a constitutionally protected limit on government spending, could cripple necessary education funding.

"There are those who want to cap funding for education, tying it to some artificial measures of population growth," Titus said. "Well, let me ask you this: If the population were to grow 20 percent, are you going to hire 20 percent of the teachers and build 20 percent of the schools? Now that is really inadequate. We can't go down that road."

Beers said Titus' mathematics on TASC are incorrect.

"It may be too late for some, but our current graduates should have a solid grasp of fundamental mathematics," Beers said. "Maybe Dina should stop using math in her speeches because that strikes me as math abuse."

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