From the Las Vegas Sun: Despite some gains in student achievement, Las Vegas has been named
the worst city in the nation for education, according to two rankings
released this week.
Parenting Magazine came out with a list of the top 10 worst cities for education
in America in 2012. Topping that list is Las Vegas, which was dinged
for its schools’ high pupil-to-teacher ratio and a lower-than-average
per-pupil funding.
The magazine, which has a circulation of more than 2 million readers,
cited the recession as a cause for Las Vegas’ low education ranking.
The Clark County School District was recently downgraded by two Wall Street credit-rating agencies, complicating the district’s plans to address $5.3 billion in school maintenance needs, the magazine said.....
According to the foundation, Nevada ranks 50th in the nation in education despite improving in several key indicators.
Joining Nevada in the bottom five states for education are Arizona,
West Virginia, Mississippi and New Mexico. The top states for education
are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Three-quarters of Nevada’s fourth-graders are not proficient in
reading, and 71 percent of eighth-graders are not proficient in math,
according to Kids Count. Furthermore, 44 percent of Nevada’s high school
students don’t graduate on time, the report found. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jul/28/two-reports-find-las-vegas-worst-city-nation-educa/
First, this article mixes up Las Vegas and Nevada constantly, so the Sun makes tha article confusing.
Here is the reason for the low marks: When
tough economic times hit a city, the school districts feel the pain.
Thanks to Las Vegas' declining tax revenue and state aid, the school
district was recently downgraded by both Standard & Poor's and
Moody's, thereby thwarting plans for $5.3 billion in school maintenance
needed over the next decade. Meanwhile, the school district was at the
bottom of our list for pupil/teacher ratio and was in the bottom third
for per-pupil spending. http://www.parenting.com/gallery/worst-cities-education-in-america-2012
But, all the pointy headed academics say is we don't spend enough on academics. What a bunch of fools. They don't even talk about education, just money.
If you use your money wisely and utilize space properly, you are going to get the same results as some other districts who spend twice as much as you do.
But to show how stupid this article pin head group is, they named New York City as one of the top 10 districts in the country. Same with Madison, WI., even though the teachers shut down their district for a week when the teachers were out protesting instead of being in the classroom.
Finally, these pin heads don't even know the name of our school district. We are called the Clark County School District.
This report is just more of the same: spend money, spend money and spend more money.
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As someone with a relative who teaches here in LV (and as someone who has examined the local public education system) I can honestly say the CCSD stinks at teaching students what they need to know. I've talked to oldtimers who have told me that 30 years ago, Clark County schools weere actually one of the BEST in the US. They dumbed them down fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteThe top heavy mucky mucks at the CCSD offices aren't much help either. Much of the money they desire goes towards that fancy building they have on W. Sahara and salaries.
It's true that money tends to be the primary argument. Surely NYC, based on money per student alone, should be turning out Ivy League grads all the time, but they aren't. Having gone to Catholic institutions, I've learned that one can learn with relatively few resources. They certainly aren't spending 5K or more per student. Nor are the non sectarian prep schools. They know how to make the most of the money they receive via tuition. Even homeschoolers can teach their own on about $600 a year.