Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

With two children in second grade in the Washoe County School District and two more entering the district in next school year, Ben understands parents' concerns about the future of our education system. He believes that improving our education system will require continued support for critical education reforms that ensure we get the most out of our existing resources. To that end, Ben sponsored and passed legislation in 2011 that created an alternate route to teacher licensure, making it easier for business professionals to become teachers in our schools (2011 -- Senate Bill 315). Ben is also a strong supporter of charter schools and giving parents more choices when it comes to their child's education. During the 2013 Legislative Session, Ben worked diligently to ensure charter schools received access to funding for capital infrastructure, which is one of the biggest barriers to the growth of charter schools in Nevada. Ben also sponsored legislation in 2013 that would have freed K-12 and Higher Education from the restrictions of prevailing wage requirements and allowing them to operate in the free market to get more out of their limited capital construction budgets. Along with critical reforms, Ben believes that funding for education is important, but it must be the right funding. Putting money into a broken system that cannot be tracked would be the wrong thing for Nevada. As such, Ben supports increases in targeted, programmatic funding that can be tracked and linked back to student success to ensure taxpayers are getting the return on investment they deserve.

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