Nevada 51st in Education Loses Out on Race to the Top

Carson City, NV (Jul 28th) – In what is becoming an ultimate blame game, credit for who was responsible for Nevada losing a portion of the $160 million from the federal government to shore up Nevada’s dismal educational system is unconvincing in its attempt. In fact, it is infuriating that the soon to be removed from office Governor Jim Gibbons refused to accept responsibility for Nevada’s loss.

Governor Jim Gibbons, the only sitting Governor to ever not be re-nominated to run by his own party, has chosen to target Senate Major Leader Harry Reid as the reason why the state was eliminated for educational federal funding consideration. Gibbons, tiresome even to his own GOP party, refuses to acknowledge that it was his responsibility, along with the State legislation, to ensure the proper requirements were met to be considered in the funding distribution.

Senator Harry Reid, however, has Gibbon’s number. The 18 states chosen for assistance were picked because the governors and government within said states aggressively went after funding to bolster up their educational systems.

Blame falls squarely on the special session of State legislators held in February 2010. The legislation removed 15 words from a statute that allowed student test scores to be banned when evaluating teacher performance. The removal of these mere 15 words, and an apathetic approach and concern for the long-forgotten quality of education in Nevada are clear indicators as to why Nevada was not chosen in the Race to the Top.

It appears, once again, that 51st place is “good enough” for Nevada. May god have mercy on its citizens.

Posted by on July 29, 2010. Filed under Education,Moderate,News,Opinion Editorial,Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.