-
bring your hands together principle 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 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 with her
-
ajahn seabass 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 miss crying 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 the 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 its Jud 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 miss 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 miss 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 a wear 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 Miss 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 turn League rate 'fl 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
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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 in 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 baby 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 you in L V 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 switch
-
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
-
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 they 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 our
-
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 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 and 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 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 money 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 is 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 ona
-
home this has been terrific aliy
-
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
-
well 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 sand
-
of all good call governor sand of all
-
lucky 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 equal 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