Arianna BennettChannel 2 News
President Obama focused most of his State of the Union address Tuesday night on fixing the economy. He touched on what our public school system needs to change to do that.
President Obama listed some specific requirements for public schools. Namely, that they require students to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18. He also wants the states to institute an incentive program to reward good teachers and get rid of bad ones.
Channel 2 News found out that both of the President's suggestions are programs that the district and the state of Nevada already have in place, or are in the process of getting in place.
Nevada is one of the 20 states that already require students to stay in school until graduation, or until they turn 18.
"We've been very proactive in the Washoe County School District, in terms of getting the kids back in school," said Jane Woodburn, the Washoe County School District Deputy Superintendent. "Beginning of the year, we have the door-to-door campaign, where we go knock on the doors of students who have not shown up at school, and try to get them back in school."
Woodburn says Nevada students are required to be in school until age 18, but the real challenge is getting them to show up. That's where she says the district has to get creative with programs like their Door-To-Door campaign. But, programs like these require funding, and that's one area where Nevada does not excel. The Silver State has one of the lowest per-pupil spending rates in the country.
That leaves them looking for grants, like the Teacher Incentive Fund, $9 million that the district is already using to develop a new teacher evaluation system.
It's a step towards a Teacher Incentive Program like the one President Obama mentioned Tuesday night.
"We are developing a process now," Woodburn said. "We're looking into a Pay-For-Performance, and this is something that we're looking across the country. How are other districts doing it? And, we're developing that now, as we go."
Woodburn says overall, the Washoe County School District does have a jump start on the programs the President mentioned, but their plans don't always come with funding. So, they'll have to find more revenue in order to follow through with them.
