2012 Voter Guide: Clark County School Board District E
Northwest Las Vegas voters are the only residents who must choose between two new faces to represent them on the Clark County School Board, and both candidates argue their professional expertise is the missing ingredient in overseeing America’s fifth-largest school district.
Facing each other in District E are Patrice Tew, who is a member of several advisory committees to the board, and James Clinton .
Voters in districts A and B will choose between an incumbent and another candidate.
Tew emphasizes improving student achievement by holding school staff more accountable through use of today’s data collection tools and raising the bar for students.
She supports the state-mandated new teacher evaluation system that requires less subjectivity, using student performance data for half of a teachers’ evaluation.
"People want accountability," she said, noting that the new system will benefit teachers because it’s a full picture of their work, not a snapshot from an administrator watching for a moment.
Clinton said the Clark County School District must better manage its money.
"We need to run it as a business, not an open checkbook," said Clinton, who argued that as the economy improves, every dollar must go toward teachers to decrease class sizes and improve schools.
"If it’s not directly benefiting students, why are we doing it?" he asked.
The School Board has been at loggerheads with the teachers union for more than a year, losing an arbitration battle last year that awarded teacher pay raises.
The two parties are beginning arbitration again for this school year’s contract, and pay raises remain the point of contention.
Clinton said he’s "fine with raises if the money is there" and not taken from something else, like happened last year when positions were cut and class sizes increased to foot the bill.
"I don’t think either side was right or wrong," he said. "Just stop bickering and collaborate."
Tew said pay raises this year would be considerable but depend on several factors, most notably whether voters approve the district’s proposed property tax increase to fund improvements to aging schools. Either way, she would like to see "merit pay" for teachers, awarding bonuses for student achievement. Instead of an automatic raise for time on the job, teachers would have an incentive to boost students’ performance.
Both candidates supported putting the property tax increase to voters. While Tew said voters need to pass it without question or student achievement will suffer, Clinton wasn’t so sure.
But voters need to be asked, he said.
"We need to allow everyone in the community to have that input," he said.
The property tax increase could not be assessed without voter approval.
Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.