EDITORIAL: CCSD continues to fail students

On Monday, the Nevada Department of Education released test scores from the 2023-24 school year. The Clark County School District’s results are beyond depressing.

Less than 37 percent of district elementary school students are proficient in math. That’s the high-water mark. Among middle school students, it’s under 25 percent. For high school students, it’s under 20 percent. The longer students remain in district schools, the less likely they are to be proficient in math.

The numbers are slightly better in reading. Among elementary school students, 42.2 percent are proficient in English language arts. It dips under 38 percent in middle school before rising to 46.6 percent in high school.

You don’t want to know about science. Among ninth and tenth graders, proficiency is under 20 percent.

These low achievement levels can’t be blamed solely on COVID and extended school closures either. In the 2021-22 school year, 41.2 percent of the district’s third through eighth graders were proficient in reading. This year, the comparable number is just 39.3 percent. Over the same time period, the same group saw math proficiency go from 26.4 percent to 30.1 percent.

Even students who are behind in math should recognize these numbers represent a massive failure.

Look beyond the numbers to see what’s at stake here. Around 200,000 students aren’t proficient in math. Many of those same students — and more than 150,000 in total — aren’t proficient in English. While there will be occasional success stories, most of these students are on a path of reduced opportunities, wasted potential and increased human suffering.

The failure isn’t evenly distributed across the Las Vegas Valley. Henderson, Summerlin and other suburbs have most of the four- and five-star schools. Downtown Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and the eastside of the valley are filled with one-star schools.

You’re seeing the cycle of poverty. Poor families live in low-income areas with low-performing schools. Because there’s a connection between household income and student achievement, those schools have a harder job. They’re also more likely to have teacher vacancies. Financial stress can decrease parental involvement, which hurts students. Some poor families have to move more frequently. Switching schools can set students back academically.

Put all those factors together, and you get this result. Students attending schools in low-income areas learn less. That decreases their employment prospects and chances of escaping poverty. The cycle repeats itself as they eventually send their kids to similar failure factors.

For decades, the education establishment has claimed that the solution is more money. And Nevada has tried that approach. In 2003, then-governor Kenny Guinn passed what was then the largest tax increase in state history to increase education funding. In 2015, then-governor Brian Sandoval did the same thing. In 2021, flush with COVID cash, Gov. Joe Lombardo and legislative Democrats increased education spending by more than 25 percent.

That approach didn’t work. It hasn’t worked. It won’t work. You can’t fix a broken system by dumping more money into it.

It can be tempting to focus solely on individual policies that need fixing. There are many of those. The district’s dumbed-down grading policy has been a disaster. Those changes restricted the leverage math teachers have to make students do homework. No wonder math proficiency plummets as students get older. The district’s lack-of-discipline has endangered students and teachers. Its unions have too much influence over district finances.

But don’t miss the big picture. The district is a systemic failure.

Voters need to elect legislative candidates who will give students the ability to escape, by supporting policies like school choice. Unfortunately, last session, legislative Democrats prioritized their union allies over the needs of children stuck in failing schools. To have a better future, those students need Republicans to win more legislative seats.

Instead of rewarding the district for failing most of its students, lawmakers need to give kids more educational options.