Back to School Kickoff Keynote Speaker: Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis

Bring your hands together, Principal of

Applied Analysis. Good morning and thank

you for the opportunity to be here today.

I'm very honored to be asked to come and

be able to address you respecting the

fact that I'm doing a little bit of

pinch-hitting as I was.

Nicole was nice enough to send me over

some talking points and things that she

thought may be of interest. And as I

started to prepare, it seemed to me that

the right place to begin was with thank

you it occurs to me that I as much as

probably anyone in this community, I'm a

product of this group of people and the

balance of the teachers and

administrators at the Clark County

School District. Fourth-generation

Nevadan that means that my father and my

mother both graduated from high school

here. My mother went all the way through

school here, my grandmother graduated

from Las Vegas High School in 1939, and

her mother graduated yep and her mother

graduated from was then called the

Nevada Normal School in 1912, yeah.

I take a great deal of pride in this

community and I take a great deal of

pride in the education that I have. And

as I was preparing my comments for today,

it occurred to me that so much of the

opportunities that I've been given are a

result of the educational experience

that I had. My stepmother, who most of you

probably knew, her name was Emily Agüero.

So, with the school district for a very

very long time.

She used to take me to school at

John C. Bass. And I was about 4 or 5

years old and was one of the earliest

memories that I had. Pretty remarkable. I

remember thinking to myself, man. This is

pretty cool. This is a place that I want

to be, Mrs. Crine in kindergarten. She

was very sweet to me, and taught me that

education could be fun. We had those

little centers we would go from place to

place she taught me that bullying wasn't

okay. I wasn't the bully. I was the guy

that was getting bullied, but we got it

all figured out. By the time we got out

of kindergarten, right in first grade, you

know, I sort of we started doing reading

in mathematics. I thought, "Okay, this is

stuff I think I can figure out how to do."

I learned that I was never going to go

professional as a tetherball player.

Although my aspirations were definitely

there, Mrs. Judd, I had in second grade, she

started to teach me more about

mathematics, and really gave me a real

joy of math which turned out to be

something that was helpful for me. She

also taught me that keeping ants as a

pet, and bringing them to school is

something that's frowned upon at the

Clark County School District. In the

third grade, I had Mrs. Schneider,

absolutely remarkable teacher. She taught

me to write in cursive something that I

think students is a bit of a lost art

today. But nonetheless, she also told me

that what makes us different makes us

special and makes us good. She found

something incredible about every student

in our class, and make sure that they had

enough confidence to stand up and talk

about what made them special. In fourth

grade, I had Mrs. Carter.

She let me be myself. I went through

something of a Michael J Fox family tie

phase. I decided I would bring a

briefcase and wear a little tie when I

came to school. Yes, that was a little bit

ridiculous. But nonetheless,

she was a remarkable teacher and one

that I have affinity and still talk

about still today. Fifth grade. Mr. Gray

and Mrs. Geno taught me to embrace

school, taught me that working hard was

what was necessary. In the third grade, I

was what was then referred to as the

Reading Improvement Program. I was not a

good reader. I've always struggled with

that, although I've gotten better at it

over time. By the time I was in fifth

grade, I was tested for the academically

talented program because Miss Snyder

recognized I had a problem because Miss

Carter worked with me on it, and because

Miss Gugino and Mr. Gray believed that I

could do better than I was doing, then

for that, I am eternally grateful. I am

also eternally grateful for family.

When I took the academically talented

test, they went through a bunch of things.

I was at the very last point of the test.

I was one question away from either

getting into the program or not getting

into the program, and the last word that

I had to be able to recognize was a word

called pseudonym. There's a woman here on

Las Vegas many of you may have known,

just like an Anthony, her name is Pat

Mulroy. She was hanging out at our pool

one time, quizzing me relative to all

of these words and she taught me the

word pseudonym just the summer before I

had taken that exam. If it wasn't for

family and friends caring, and educators

extending that, I never would be where I

am today.

I was bussed 45 minutes across the

community to Joe Mackay, where for sixth

grade, it was a positive experience.

However, it all is always stuck with me

that education is not always equal and

that is something that I think is

something that we have to consider and

always move forward. I think we've made

great strides in the last 30 years

relative to that, but it has always stuck

with me as I've been invited to go to

different schools by trustees. Those

things have been remarkable in junior

high school. I found out that I really

wanted to hang out with the kids that

were in the accelerated classes,

those were the, where the middle was.

Moving up, I didn't want to be somewhere

else. It provided me that opportunity in

high school. Barbara Crawford, my English

professor, who I will never forget, god

rest her soul. She was a wonderful

wonderful woman at Valley High School.

She

taught me to find my inner voice, right?

And not be scared of it to write the

things that I said and say the things

that I fought because that was okay to

do. It was okay to have my own thought. I

left Valley High School. I went to the

University of Nevada Las Vegas for

another teacher, a gentleman by the name

of Shannon. He encouraged me, took me

under his wing, and actually told me to

come into his classroom every single day

or, excuse me, every semester to come in

because he wanted to know what classes I

was choosing. And it wouldn't matter what

classes I actually put down on that

little piece of paper. He would scratch

them all out and change them to ones

that were much harder than the ones that

I wanted to add. He was a wonderful

wonderful human being.

He cared people had looked out for him,

and he had done the same.

Shannon taught me that we all have a

responsibility to leave this community

better than we found it. We have a

responsibility to pass it on.

I left UNLV and I went to law

school because Shannon made me promise

him that I would. I never planned to

practice law. I've never practiced live,

never sat for any type of postgraduate

exam, or anything along those lines.

But the law has taught me a great many

things: that Law School is a remarkable

feat, just like this building that I am

so honored to be standing on this stage

at, taught me a great number of things.

About how we can work within the system,

and how we can change it, right? That is

where I feel like we are today. We are in

a bold effort to try and improve our

condition as a community as we fight

with growth, and we deal with the

problems that have been systemic. It is

unfortunate to note that we have

neglected our education system for the

better part of a generation, and now we

are shocked and stunned by

underperformance in some areas we cannot

have an expectation to under resource

and under pay and under dedicate and not

pay sufficient attention to our public

schools, and then expect to superior

performance on the back end. That said,

that's it. I don't know when it occurred

and maybe it just occurred because I

opened my eyes or because I was involved

in some meeting, but I don't know when it

occurred that the superintendent or that

teachers or that administrators got cast

in the role of villain. I don't know when

it was the legislators decided that they

could substitute their judgment for

judgment, who for the judgment of people

who educate people every day and people

who are hired to do that who have made

it their life's work no better had

educate children and the people that are

in front of those children every single

day. I don't know when exactly that

happened, but what I can tell you is this.

I can tell you that I do believe that

this state and this community are coming

together. I do believe that the

opportunities that are presented by the

fact that we are having a more

transparent discussion about our

problems that we are understanding what

the shortcomings are. And we are trying

to identify solutions we are not there

yet. And I will talk about some of those

today, but I don't want to leave you with

the impression that I am NOT optimistic

about this community, that I am NOT

optimistic about the Clark County School

District that I am NOT excited about the

fact that I have three children, all of

which will be educated, or have been

educated in this Clark County school

district. And that I believe that their

promise is just as great as anyone. Any

student coming out of any school

anywhere in the United States and for

that, I am infinitely thankful to the

people in this way.

I was asked to come and speak just a

little bit about what we're seeing in

the economy the fiscal system what you

can expect on a go-forward basis. I think

that is a relatively straightforward

conversation to have. We have

transitioned from a period of decline to

a period of expansion. There's a lot of

uncertainty going on relative to what's

happening in Washington DC I continue to

believe that the office of the president

is more important than the person who

holds that office. And sometimes, that's a

bit difficult to see. And sometimes we

have differences of opinion, slowness,

argument, dissent is the way the system

is supposed to work. The newspapers. The

media have sensationalized so much of

the debate that's going on right? The

social media that's out there, the way in

which we communicate the folks has made

it faster and shorter. And we don't

always have a conversation about what is

on page two, but all of that having been

said, the structure of the United States

economy is clearly stable today. There

are more people working in the United

States of America than at any point in

our history. Today, the United States of

America is producing more than any point

in our history. All of the instability

that went on during the Great Recession,

the recession that we now refer to as

great, and it was difficult and a lot of

people lost their jobs. And I don't want

to minimize any of that. All of that

strife that occurred. All of it. Where did

people from all over the world put their

money when they had to go somewhere? They

put it in the United States. Where do

people that have the option to send

their children when they have to go to

college? Where do they send them? They

send them to the United States. Now maybe,

we'll say it differently. Maybe, we can

look at what we're doing, and we can be

our own worst critic. But if we're going

to think about it in that way. Maybe

we're the best of the bad places to be

on planet Earth because everybody has

problems, and we accept that. But if we

are creating jobs, if we are creating

economic opportunity, if we are expanding.

And today, we are at the full rate of

employment, which means that everybody

who wants to have a job has a job, and

while some of that continues to be under

employment. While our skill set continues

to be lagging because the economy is

innovating faster than we can build, the

skill sets up we are making strides in,

that direction everyone from Career and

Technical academies to those that are

doing internships and apprenticeships to

everything that the College of Southern

Nevada is doing to train people to be

ready to enter that workforce are

helping. We made some 25 different

changes. We, I don't mean to sound

presumptive, the state legislature and

the state made 25 meaningful changes to

education over the past in 2015 and a

little bit after that. The reality of

that is is that is going to take 10 to

15 years to actually show its ability to

manifest in terms of the students that

are ultimately coming out of the Clark

County School District or any other

school district that has made similar

types of changes. That is just the

reality of it and as much as we like the

idea of micromanaging the schools and

schools across this country, the reality

of it is is that there's also the other

side of that equation which is

essentially reform fatigue. We need to

give some of these plans. The opportunity

to work and focus on the things that

we're doing right, and minimize the

things that we're doing wrong that is

not a Nevada problem, that is not a Clark

County school districts problem, that is

a United States problem. The economy is

moving quickly. It is a rapid evolution

in terms of what companies like Swatch

and Tesla and Google and Microsoft, what

they need and what they require. Even if

we had it perfect today, five years from

now. It would not be perfect anymore, but

this United, these United States, the

education system that exists is making

efforts to move that ball down the field,

and improve that here at home in the

state of Nevada.

Things are even better than they are in

the United States. We tend to think about

it in terms of the big three population

growth employment, growth tax, taxable

retail sales or consumer spending growth,

all of those are at or near the highest

level they have ever been. And what does

that mean for the Clark County School

District? That means that more students

are coming. That means that classes are

going to be increasingly crowded-based

on the way that we fund our schools. That

means that we are going to have

additional challenges, not only from the

students like me that went from

kindergarten all the way through twelfth

grade in the system, but the ones that

are coming from other areas. These are

the realities that some of them will

come and they won't speak English. Some

of them will come, and they will have

education from some of them will come

and they will be remarkably educated,

remarkably talented and they will help

us continue to grow and develop this

community. Our diversity is an asset. The

people moving into this community

provide a way to leverage that asset and

continue to grow it this community is

geared for growth. We don't have a choice.

People are coming for two reasons: number

one: they're coming to get a job. Number

two:

they're coming for retirement. Those ones

that are coming to get a job largely are

small starting families. Those type of

things right which is a little bit of a

dichotomy because people that are

retiring don't always like kids

that it's always a problem.

No, but we'll deal with it right. We will

deal with it because that's who we are.

You will remember for those that have

been here for a while, you'll remember

back in 2006, we were talking about not

having enough employees. We're talking

about having enough concrete and glass

to build all the casinos and hotels. We

were talking about building the Ivanpah

Airport, because we were going to run out

of capacity at McCarran International

Airport. And not in not too far into the

future, and we couldn't stop that. All of

those same problems are coming again. We

have an affordable housing problem which

I'm sure is making it remarkably

difficult for your teachers and for

those of you are trying to recruit. We have

got to solve that.

We have a capacity problem in terms of

having enough employees. We are 10,000

employees short in our community today

in terms of construction related

employment, but nonetheless, population is

growing. We are adding jobs in almost

every sector of the economy which is

positive for us and taxable retail

spending, which suggests that consumers

are consumers again is at the highest

level. We have ever seen in the history

of the state of Nevada that is good for

us. And it is something that we should

embrace in terms of our prosperity that

having. Having been said, you've read in

the newspaper. I've read in the newspaper

that the Clark County School District

and other state and local governments is

running has a budget problem, has a

budget shortfall, and as we think about

that we think about how in the world can

these two things coexist? How is it,

Jeremy, that you can stand up here and

tell us the economy is doing? Well,

consumers are spending mone,y housing

prices are going up. People are getting

jobs, wages, and salaries are rising and

yet, you're going to tell me that the

revenues that give rise, the revenues

that support the Clark County school

districts budget are underperforming. How

can these things be possible? And the

answer is they absolutely can because

the way we fund education in the state

of Nevada is nothing more than a shell

game. And I hate to tell you that, and

it's been that way since I've been doing

what I've been doing in 1997 is one of

the very first project that I ever

worked on was the governor's task force

on tax policy. We evaluated what is known

as the Nevada plan, and the distributive

school account. And I'm not even going to

start to go through that because that

would be almost as painful for you as it

is for me. But let me assure you of one

thing, it is a circular funding formula

that is always intended to ensure that

there is never a surplus in education.

And when deficits come in that the state

and elected officials that make those

type of decisions have the ability to

move things around to either create a

benefit or not. that is the reality of

our state's education system. It's funded

through two primary revenue sources: one

is local support. Low

school support taxes a portion of your

sales tax. The other one is property tax.

In 2009, we put on a series of abatement

onto property tax for all of us at on a

home. This has been terrific.

Wonderful right? We see that our property

taxes don't go up very much. But this

year, the Clark County School District

will lose literally hundreds of millions

of dollars because all of us are

receiving a tax abatement. It is not

Faraday future. It is not Google. It is

not Tesla. That is the reason for those

tax abatements. It is you and I. It is us

sitting in this room and do that. And I

will tell you that this was known. There

was not a surprise to anyone that this

is what was going to happen. So ladies

and gentlemen, what I would like to tell

you when we think about the fiscal

system is. Will there be growth? Will

taxable retail sales go up? Yes, they will.

Will property values go up? Yes,

they will. Will this lead to significant

increases in the funding for education

in the state of Nevada? No, it will not. I

would implore you to galvanize to unify

around making real and meaningful

changes to the way in which we fund

schools in the state of Nevada. The

Nevada plan needs to go the distributive

school account.

The distributive school account needs to

be revised and be more reflective of

what how schools need to be funded today.

If I am paying money, that is called the

local school support tax. And that money

falls out of the bottom of that budget. I

would like to know that those one shots

that surplus should be available to fund

one-time appropriations for schools. If I

am paying the majority of my property

tax, and it says school capital. And it

says school operating. I don't want to

hear that any of the money that's

falling out of the bottom of that is

redirected into the state's general fund.

And used for some other purpose, I will

tell you that there is, thank you. I will

tell you that there is not only an

increasing momentum among the folks in

Carson City, but also an increasing

understanding. This was designed to be

intentionally opaque. It was, in design, to

be difficult. It will take time to get

people to understand that these changes

need to be made. Now, I don't know how

hard. Look, I know how hard every one of

you worked. I guess what I'm trying to

say is, I don't know if people know how

hard that Pat and Nicole work up in

Carson City to try and educate people

about these changes. The only word that I

can come up to explain, it is tireless. A

tireless effort to try and get people to

understand it, but for those who

represent you and the folks who work for

you. Every day, they have also got to

change their focus. The reality is, if we

look at something, we say, "Oh look, the

state legislature gave us raises." They

put it into the distributive school

account without any understanding

whatsoever of the totality of that

account and how it works. And the some

light up look over here, don't look over

there.

Nature of that account while at the same

time requiring an ending fund, balance

that. If your household maintained $10 in

your bank account, or my business

maintained a hundred dollars in my bank

account. given the fact that there

is instability in things like property

tax and imperfection and things like

taxable retail sales, who is left holding

the bag when property caches come in

slightly under expectation? Who is left

holding the bag when sales facts come in

slightly under expectation? Who is left

holding the bag?

The answer is teachers, and the students

in those classrooms, and the reason, where

we see it manifest is the fact that

every year, class sizes get larger,

because that is the only leveraging

mechanism that we have to balance. The

budget is to jam more kids into every

classroom. Ladies and gentlemen, that is

unacceptable.

For the state of Nevada, we have got to

find a way to fix it from an economic

standpoint. Our community is doing well

and will continue to do. Well, from a

fiscal standpoint, we will continue to

improve, but the prosperity of our

economy will not be equal by the

prosperity of our fiscal system. If we do

not fix it, it will be a continuing

problem. The jobs that will continue to

be created in this state, and I think we

owe a debt of gratitude, not only to

Governor Sandoval, but also to a

gentleman by the name of Steve Hill, who

has changed the perception of the state

of Nevada, who has completely changed it

from an economic development standpoint.

We in this state,

we in this state have created 10,000 new

employers since 2011. Call governor Sandoval,

good, call governor Sandoval.

I don't care. He's probably both. He

is a remarkable governor who cares about

the future and has done a great many

things for this school district, and for

this state that will be the driving

force that pushes this economy forward

during the economic downturn we had an

economic problem. First, we had a fiscal

problem second. Today, we have fixed the

economic problem. Let me be clear about

this fact we are no longer in recession.

We are clearly in expansion. We have 15

billion dollars worth of

that are planned, proposed and under

construction and everybody other than I

think my brother-in-law has a job right?

I didn't say which brother-in-law, just

to be clear in case, anyone knows them.

This will create opportunity but the

continuation of that opportunity

absent a legitimate long conversation

about how we fund schools. So that every

two years, we're not arguing about two

percent. We're not arguing about one

pupil. We're not arguing about one

program. But we are arguing about how to

get this school district, and this state

from where it is today to a leader in

education in this country, and I think

that is within our grasp. And we are at

least taking steps in that direction

respecting the fact that my time is

about coming to an end, I do want to do

two things: number one, I want to thank

the Clark County School District for

everything that they have done, and all

of you for what you have given me. I also

do want to extend the thanks to the most

important teacher in my life, who is my

wife. She is a first-grade teacher at

Wolfe Elementary,

and she reminds me every single day that

being a teacher is not necessarily a job

or profession. It is a calling, and for so

many of you people say the children are

our future, your future,

I think an equal part of that is

the folks who have made the decision

made the commitment to commit so much of

their time, energy, their love, and frankly,

so much of their money to educating the

students in this community, including my

children with that. Thank you very, very

much.