March 10, 2010
The true cost of public education
The Cato Institute examines the true cost of public education. NPRI's report "Funding Fantasies" looked at this issue in Nevada last year. We found that Nevada spent over $13,000 per pupil when all funds were included. Even if we exclude bond revenue expenditures Nevada was still spending over $11,500 per pupil in the 2008-09 school year.
March 8, 2010
Higher education misleading people again
Last week some engineering students and professors at UNLV gathered to protest budget cuts they believed would eliminate their departments. The problem is, no one actually suggested cutting engineering.
The engineering departments were listed as the most expensive, which isn’t surprising. But no one suggested that because they were expensive they should be eliminated. The university simply allowed the media, taxpayers, professors and students to draw their own connections.
Somehow, these students and teachers ended up protesting about nothing and no one bothered to clarify that for them. One of two possibilities explains why this happened. Either the engineering students and teachers need better reading comprehension skills, or the leadership at UNLV needs to have the integrity to explain the situation with some honesty, and to stop misleading and manipulating the already-worried students.
My money is on the latter possibility.
March 5, 2010
Average teacher pay in Nevada
Being a teacher isn't a half-bad job, I should know, I was a history teacher for a short time. The only problem is that you get paid based on how long you've worked, not how good you are at teaching.
Never the less, the average teacher in Nevada makes $53,547.
Don't forget about benefits
Retirement: $10,977
Workers comp: $403
Unemployment insurance: $43
Medicare: $712
Medical Insurance $6,707
Other: $286
That brings the grand total (salary plus benefits) to $72,675 for the average teacher.
March 4, 2010
Graduation rates at Nevada colleges
The board of regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education is meeting today to discuss the budget reductions. We hope they take some time to dicuss improving the quality of education and increasing graduation rates as well.
But isn’t graduating on time the student’s responsibility? Yes and no. The problem is, NSHE is trying to sell itself as an institution of learning that is not only in high demand but adds value to Nevada's economy. Thus, those who run the system argue for more state support.
But why should the state give more support when it is already hard enough to determine the value of an undergraduate degree today? Furthermore, what is the value of the majority of students attending college but not graduating? Until this is resolved, we can’t say with any certainty that NSHE adds more value than it consumes in resources.
Here is a list of the 2008 graduation, retention and transfer-out rates for Nevada’s public colleges and universities. The data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education. In the data provided, we are only looking at the graduation, retention and transfer-out rates of first-time, full-time students.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
UNLV retains 76 percent of its full-time students after the first year, yet just 41 percent of full-time students will graduate after six years of college.
University of Nevada, Reno
UNR retains 75 percent of its full-time students after the first year yet graduates just 48 percent of its students within six years.
College of Southern Nevada:
Retention rate: Unknown
Graduation rate: 4 percent
Transfer-out rate: 37 percent
Great Basin College
Retention rate: 57 percent
Graduation rate: 20 percent
Transfer-out rate: Unknown
Nevada State College
Retention rate: 54 percent
Graduation rate: 13 percent
Transfer-out rate: Unknown
Truckee Meadows
Retention rate: 61 percent
Graduation rate: 11 percent
Transfer-out rate: 18 percent
Western Nevada
Retention rate: Unknown
Graduation rate: 20 percent
Transfer-out rate: 25 percent
March 2, 2010
A monetary history of Nevada public education
According to Emily Richmond of the Las Vegas Sun, "History suggests that Nevada’s public schools may never recover from the budget cuts being required of them by legislators after this weekend."
This is certainly the opinion of the school superintendents, some legislators and some special-interest groups. But it isn't true at all.
Not only has public education recovered financially from budget cuts, its revenues and spending have outpaced population growth and inflation combined! Take a look for yourself:
*Per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation. 1959-2007
*Per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation. 1997-2007
*Total K-12 education operating budget from all districts, in millions of dollars. Adjusted for inflation. 2001-2011. Note: the FY 10 and FY 11 budgets will be reduced by 6.9 percent, potentially leaving K-12 education with more money than in the last biennium.
*General Fund appropriations in millions of dollars. Adjusted for inflation. 2001-2011. Does not include the 6.9 percent reduction for the 2009-11 biennium.
*Basic support per pupil. Adjusted for inflation. 2001-2011. Does not include the 6.9 percent reduction for the 2009-11 biennium.
Don't take our word for it. Go directly to the source.
*Legislative Counsel Bureau
*National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education
This is certainly the opinion of the school superintendents, some legislators and some special-interest groups. But it isn't true at all.
Not only has public education recovered financially from budget cuts, its revenues and spending have outpaced population growth and inflation combined! Take a look for yourself:
Don't take our word for it. Go directly to the source.
*Legislative Counsel Bureau
*National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education
February 26, 2010
ACLU misleads public about vouchers
Nevada’s lawmakers this week were subjected to a few half-truths about the governor’s proposed education voucher program from school superintendents and the ACLU of Nevada. Vouchers are tax dollars that are given to parents so they can send their child to any public or private school they choose. School funding is thus directed by parents rather than central bureaucrats.
Vouchers do not result in discrimination as the ACLU claimed. In fact, private schools are better at serving low-income students, teaching mentally handicapped students, increasing racial diversity, and teaching tolerance and civility:
The ACLU misrepresented vouchers by claiming that the program would only help the wealthy because the voucher is not enough to cover private-school tuition. This is intellectually equivalent to claiming food stamps don’t help the poor because they don’t cover the full cost of food.
It is true that vouchers are set below the cost of traditional public schools, but most voucher programs require that private schools do not charge additional tuition. Nevertheless, in 2004 the U.S. Department of Education actually estimated that the average private school cost $3,300 less per pupil than traditional public schools. Furthermore, 15 states plus Washington, D.C., offer voucher/tax-credit programs that are designed specifically to serve special-needs students, foster-care students, autistic students and low-income students.
Furthermore, nine out of 10 random assignment studies have shown that vouchers improve student achievement. Studies also show that vouchers improve graduation rates and improve a student’s chance of attending college. Sixteen out of 17 studies even show that public schools improve when faced with competition from vouchers.
The reality is public schools have done a terrible job at serving those who need help the most. Fewer than half of low-income, black and Hispanic students in Nevada can read at grade level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Clearly, public schools have failed these underserved communities as well as every other Nevadan.
While it is true that Nevada has a constitutional provision prohibiting tax dollars from funding religious schools – we note this amendment was added to Nevada’s constitution as anti-catholic bigotry swept the nation in the 19th century – Nevada can avoid a constitutional challenge by either offering vouchers for secular education or implementing a tuition tax-credit program, as no parental choice opponent has beaten tuition-tax credits in court. The Institute for Justice, however, is confident that vouchers could pass constitutional muster in Nevada. Afterall, vouchers are aid to parents and students, not to churches.
The governor’s voucher proposal is a workable solution that promises to improve student achievement by empowering parents with real choices.
Read more about parental choice programs at the Foundation for Education Choice.
Vouchers do not result in discrimination as the ACLU claimed. In fact, private schools are better at serving low-income students, teaching mentally handicapped students, increasing racial diversity, and teaching tolerance and civility:
- One and a half percent of special-needs students are placed in private schools by public schools that cannot meet their needs.
- Public schools do not have to teach every child. Public schools expel 1 percent of their students every year and send another 0.6 percent to special schools for troubled kids.
- Seven respected academic studies have found that vouchers increase racial diversity.
- Thirty-three studies found that private-school students possessed more “democratic values” like tolerance, civic knowledge, political participation and volunteerism.
The ACLU misrepresented vouchers by claiming that the program would only help the wealthy because the voucher is not enough to cover private-school tuition. This is intellectually equivalent to claiming food stamps don’t help the poor because they don’t cover the full cost of food.
It is true that vouchers are set below the cost of traditional public schools, but most voucher programs require that private schools do not charge additional tuition. Nevertheless, in 2004 the U.S. Department of Education actually estimated that the average private school cost $3,300 less per pupil than traditional public schools. Furthermore, 15 states plus Washington, D.C., offer voucher/tax-credit programs that are designed specifically to serve special-needs students, foster-care students, autistic students and low-income students.
- The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program offers scholarships of up to $7,500, while D.C. public schools spend over $20,000 per pupil. Only low-income students are given access to the vouchers.
- Florida and Arizona offer special-needs scholarships. The average scholarship in Florida is just $6,500 — $3,000 less than the cost of a public school. The average scholarship in Arizona is $8,100 — roughly the same amount a public school receives per pupil.
- Florida and Arizona also offer low-income scholarships financed through corporate and personal donations. The scholarships average just $3,900 and $2,500, respectively — far less than what the public schools receive.
Furthermore, nine out of 10 random assignment studies have shown that vouchers improve student achievement. Studies also show that vouchers improve graduation rates and improve a student’s chance of attending college. Sixteen out of 17 studies even show that public schools improve when faced with competition from vouchers.
The reality is public schools have done a terrible job at serving those who need help the most. Fewer than half of low-income, black and Hispanic students in Nevada can read at grade level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Clearly, public schools have failed these underserved communities as well as every other Nevadan.
While it is true that Nevada has a constitutional provision prohibiting tax dollars from funding religious schools – we note this amendment was added to Nevada’s constitution as anti-catholic bigotry swept the nation in the 19th century – Nevada can avoid a constitutional challenge by either offering vouchers for secular education or implementing a tuition tax-credit program, as no parental choice opponent has beaten tuition-tax credits in court. The Institute for Justice, however, is confident that vouchers could pass constitutional muster in Nevada. Afterall, vouchers are aid to parents and students, not to churches.
The governor’s voucher proposal is a workable solution that promises to improve student achievement by empowering parents with real choices.
Read more about parental choice programs at the Foundation for Education Choice.
February 25, 2010
Money matters, if you spend it the right way
*Money only matters if you use it in ways that produce results. Sometimes spending more money - like on education - doesn't produce a higher-quality service.
The legislature is rejecting the governor's proposed reductions to higher education - an amount that was a mere 5 percent of total state appropriations. The governor's prosal left higher education with about the same amount of money as in the 2005-07 biennium - a period when UNR spent over $30,000 per pupil and UNLV spent over $16,000 per pupil and neither university graduated even half its students within six years. See for yourself at The Education Trust's higher education database.
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