Senate passes class-size reduction measure
Anjeanette Damon RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/22/2005 10:01 pm

After a heated floor debate, the Nevada Senate passed a measure that would allow schools in Washoe and Clark counties to opt out of the class-size reduction requirements if they don’t have the facilities to accommodate smaller classes.

U.S. Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, gave an impassioned speech against Senate Bill 460, arguing it will serve to widen the achievement gap between poor minority students and middle-class students at newer schools that can house small classes.

“SB460 may actually cause two classes of Nevada school children to be treated differently, even though they attend school in the same district,” he said. “Where are these schools that lack the necessary facilities? They are typically in older neighborhoods with low-income households and larger minority populations.

“The new schools that are built accommodate class-size reduction while the older ones don’t. Is that fair?”

His speech spurred a fervent response from Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who called Horsford’s opposition a “knee-jerk reaction.”

“(School districts) are not going to act in the disinterest or to the lack of benefit for these students,” Raggio said. “They have the opportunity to use it wisely.

“This isn’t stepping back into the dark ages in class-size reduction.”

The bill passed in a straight party-line vote: 12-9.

SB460 allows the state’s largest school districts to opt out of the 15-1 student teacher ratio required in kindergarten through third grade if they don’t have the facilities to accommodate that and if they provide a plan for reducing the overall student-teacher ratio.

Under the measure, exempted schools could not exceed a 22-1 ratio in grades 1 through 3 and a 25-1 ratio in grades 4 through 6.

Such an exemption has been available to rural school districts, which have benefitted from it, Raggio said.

Horsford’s speech also rankled Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, who said the key to closing the achievement gap rests with getting parents more involved in their children’s education.

“I would encourage parents of those who are socially-economically disadvantaged or of color to get involved in their student’s education,” Washington said. “Not while they are in school, but before they are in school. Teach them how to read. Read to them. Help them understand phonics and the alphabet and arithmetic.

“That is how we change the culture, which I myself grew up in, where the importancy of education has not always been there.” When class-size reduction was created in the late 1980s, the state agreed to fund smaller classes if the school districts built the needed classrooms. Raggio said that hasn’t happened.

“This class-size reduction has been accommodated through the use of less-than-adequate facilities, modular (classrooms) and the program of team-teaching, which everyone agrees is not a desirable situation,” Raggio said.

But supporters of class-size reduction fear any step that relaxes the 15-1 ratio would start a movement away from the policy of smaller classes.

“I hope it wouldn’t open the door to wiping out class-size reduction,” said Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City, chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee.