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March 28, 2024 3:38 am
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OPEN FORUM: The Next Front In The Battle For Local Education Autonomy

By LINDSEY DALLEY

Even though the AB394 educational reform process didn’t give our schools as much autonomy as we had hoped, it has boosted our community’s educational IQ. Along with our increased IQ, Clark County School District (CCSD) has showed signs of rising hostility against our schools and community values.

This is why six Moapa Valley residents sacrificed their day last Friday and opened up a new front in the educational reform fight by testifying before the Legislative Commission in Las Vegas. These six people were a mix of PTO presidents, School Organizational Team (SOT) members, and CEAB members from all of our local schools. Their names are Karen Jensen, Marquessa Aikele, Wendy Mulcock, Lindsey Dalley, Wendy Jensen and Monica Dominguez.

They want our schools to escape CCSD oppression and provide an opportunity for us to qualify under a new state program called the Achievement School District (ASD) created by AB 448 last legislative session.

The ASD promotes:
• School and community autonomy.
• Elevates parental choice and voice.
• Directs full per pupil CCSD and state funding to the schools.
• Allows us to use our current school buildings rent free.
• Requires any school repairs over $15,000 to be paid by CCSD.
• Keeps all school personnel inside the PERS retirement system.

In essence, the only change is what we choose. But it has to stay within State and Federal law. That is music to Moapa Valley’s ears and scratchy chalkboard fingernails to CCSD.

To accomplish this, two tracks will need to happen simultaneously. CCSD has no say in this process, but they will gnash their teeth and create fear and confusion among parents and teachers alike.
Track 1.
• 51% of parents need to petition the ASD that this is best for their children.
• We have to stay active with our elected leaders.
• Local education advocates must stand firm against the CCSD onslaught.
Track 2.
• Parents, teachers, and administrators, along with Dr. Larry Moses, will craft our own nonprofit charter organization to run our schools under State and Federal law, not the CCSD policy. Dr. Moses has done this before in other settings and is willing to do it again.
• Teachers and administrators need to know that they may choose union representation if desired. We would hope the union would allow some sort of a separate contract to accommodate our specific rural needs.

The ASD would NOT run our schools. That would be the role of our nonprofit charter. The ASD’s role is to match schools to the best charter and monitor the results to make sure children are receiving a quality education. What better charter for us than one we write ourselves!

This is another opportunity to drive the educational reform process just like we did with AB 394. Make no mistake, Moapa Valley DID help drive that process. Let’s not miss out. This will be on CEAB’s agenda and the PROGRESS will hopefully investigate the issues further. We also need people to host cottage meetings to help inform the community. The ASD is happy to meet with our community anytime.
Our children, teachers, and administrators deserve better, let’s help them.

Lindsey Dalley is a Logandale resident and a long-time advocate of education in the community. He has served for many years on the Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board. During that time he has worked to encourage more autonomy and local decision-making in Moapa Valley schools.

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