Tell the truth about progress by Clark County School District
Your editorial last Sunday “Test scores” was misleading and inaccurate.
Yes, Nevada’s governor and legislators have made much-appreciated, targeted investments into public education.
However, K-12 education funding currently represents a smaller percentage of the state budget than seen in the last decade.
The share of the state’s general fund that goes toward K-12 funding has declined from 38.8 percent in fiscal year 2016 to less than 36 percent in fiscal year 2019, despite the state investments you referenced.
Still, the Clark County School District has steadily made improvements over the last few years in multiple key indicators, including in the National Assessment of Educational Progress test you referenced in your editorial.
This is regarded as “the nation’s report card.” The CCSD performs similar to or better than other large, urban school districts in math and reading. Your editorial page consistently attacks public education, even though our educators have done more with less. For example, the most recent Quality Counts report notes that Nevada ranks 48th in school finance but 40th in K-12 achievement.
It’s time to refocus how we discuss education in Nevada. Let’s be honest about the huge amount of work we need to do to ensure every student achieves.
But our schools and students are making incredible progress and accomplishing amazing things. Your readers deserve to hear the full story.
Deanna L. Wright is president of the Clark County School District Board of Trustees.