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Here’s the Proven Plan for Saving Our Schools that Governor Lombardo Received in November 2022 – by request – from Education Crusade
(It’s still not too late to act, Governor)
Education Crusade is frequently asked, “Have you shared your proven plan for transforming our schools with Governor Lombardo?”
Yes, we have.
3 months ago, at the request of the Governor’s Education Transition Team, the Governor received the following plan, via a third party, for totally transforming Nevada’s public schools. Have we heard any response from the Governor?
No, we have not.
Here’s a simple comparison between the Education Crusade plan (enclosed) and the Governor’s announced plan.
• Cost of the 2 Plans
Education Crusade’s? $0. – Lombardo’s? $2 Billion
• Time Needed to Implement the 2 Plans
Education Crusade’s? Immediately: implemented state-wide in 6 months
Lombardo’s? 5-10 years or the 12th of Never
• Likelihood of Success of the 2 Plans
Education Crusade’s? Every program component thoroughly proven
Lombardo’s? Every program component completely theoretical and unproven
The following plan was delivered to Gov. Lombardo’s Education Transition Team, by request, in November 2022.
Saving Our Nevada Schools: Getting Back to Fundamentals
“The minute you get away from fundamentals… the bottom can fall out of whatever you’re doing.” -Michael Jordan
The bottom has fallen out of our Nevada public schools, because they have “gotten away from fundamentals.” If this situation is not addressed immediately; it will undermine our efforts in every other area to ensure a successful future for our Silver State.
As only a first step toward correcting this situation, the following items could be corrected in every state school district by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
1) PROBLEM: You can’t effectively educate students when 40% or more of them are absent from school on any given day.
SOLUTION: All school districts must immediately stop trying to correct this problem with ineffective, in-house solutions, and instead, consistently enforce the existing NRS statute that requires fines, court appearances, and the suspending of drivers licenses for chronic truants and their parents.
2) PROBLEM: Teachers cannot teach students who are not held accountable for disrespectful and violent behavior, and on-campus drug use.
SOLUTION: The Department of Education and State Legislature must immediately suspend and remove the failed provision for “Restorative Discipline,” and replace it with consistently enforced traditional progressive discipline, including whatever amount of justified suspensions, expulsions and/or arrests are required to restore respect, order, safety, and a drug-free learning environment in classrooms and on campuses.
3) PROBLEM: The practice of illicitly lowering academic standards, has hidden from the public the fact that 60-95% of our Nevada students are functionally illiterate. Falsified transcripts and inflated graduation rates have defrauded tens of thousands of students from receiving a quality education that taxpayers paid for but did not receive.
SOLUTION: The Department of Education and State Legislature must immediately suspend and remove the failed provision that is primarily responsible for this situation: “credit recovery.”
4) PROBLEM: All districts will immediately seek outside estimates for privatizing non-instructional school services.
SOLUTION: Practiced by a majority of states, this practice typically saves 25-35% on such services, avoids life-time indebtedness for pensions, and would free-up billions of dollars for hiring more teachers. “The purpose of schools is to educate children – NOT to employ adults.”
5) PROBLEM: The current 25-40% of on-campus students under the influence of controlled substances, prevents learning, creates lethal situations, and must stop.
SOLUTION: All secondary schools will address this problem by creating pilot programs for the proven “WVLA” method of school-wide voluntary drug-testing.
6) PROBLEM: In the last 20 years in our public schools, Students have increased 7.6% – Teachers have increased by 8.75, while Administrators have increased by 87.6%. Many administrators have not actively taught children for 20 years or more, and yet THEY make the policies for improving instruction and maintaining a safe, orderly environment.
SOLUTION: A non-teaching educator is an oxymoron. Beginning immediately, ALL administrators, including superintendents, will teach a minimum of 2 classes per week.
7) PROBLEM: Funding: Six states fund their schools at a lower rate than Nevada. ALL of them outperform our students. 2 of those states are among the top ten highest achieving states in the US.
SOLUTION: There will be NO more discussion at the state level regarding increasing Nevada’s per-pupil funding amount until:
• The previous 6 items in this letter have been effectively addressed.
• Our State Department of Education has interviewed the State Superintendents of these other 6 states to see how they fund-lower-and-achieve-higher, and submitted a written report to the Governor’s Office regarding their findings.
Nota Bene:
The governor will oversee twice-monthly zoom meetings with the superintendents of all of Nevada’s 17 school districts, AND receive monthly written reports FROM them, to determine whether adequate progress is being made to address the 6 critical items described in this letter.
These meetings and reports will be made available to the public. Additionally, the Governor or his representative will hold bi-weekly, televised press conferences for all media, to report progress, challenges, and answer all questions.
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