Overtly, at least, the [empowerment school] law had strong bipartisan support. "The decision-making will be initiated by local stakeholders in the school, not central administration or state agencies," said then-Senate Minority Leader Steven Horsford (D).
Unfortunately for Nevada students, teachers and taxpayers, the law's provisions have often been largely ignored by state and local agencies. The Nevada State Department of Education told the Washoe district it need not obey the law after budget cuts reduced planned empowerment school funding. In reality, compliance with the law was not conditional upon additional resources.
As one empowerment principal noted, "Empowerment is not about the extra money, it is about moving decision-making to the local level." Sen. Horsford agrees. "You can do empowerment without more money," he told teachers and principals at a recent conference. "You can do empowerment by giving the flexibility to the schools, principals and teachers."
Read "Financing Entrepreneurial Education: Part VI: Compliance with and nose-thumbing at Nevada’s empowerment law" here.
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