Legislation I will propose

Note: The actual laws will be written with the help of legal experts and be more detailed. Only those that I am able to gain support for will move forward — hopefully, some parts of education are able to gain traction while realistically the public funding of big for-profit businesses and campaign finance reform are least likely to gain traction. There are many other issues of importance not addressed here — please ask me/tell me your concerns and we can discuss. If you have solutions to any issues — I welcome our discussions (and if you would like to be more involved in the campaign, I welcome this too!). Reach out to me anytime at daniel@danielghofstein.com and you can learn more and donate at www.danielghofstein.com. Due to the quantity of information presented here and throughout the campaign, we probably will not agree on everything; but like it or not, I will always be honest with you.

1. Education.
2. Transparency in public funding.
3. End for-profit prisons.
4. Stop public funding of big businesses (socializing costs and privatizing profits).
5. Campaign finance.
6. Marijuana.
7. Other.

1 — Education.

We need comprehensive education reform. I took a job in CCSD as a guest teacher from 2016-2017 in order to learn more about our educational system from the inside.

Facts:

50/50 — ranking.We are now ranked 50/50 by most publications and also test at 50/50.

48/50 — spending. We spend 48/50 in the nation on education, ~$8,796/student in CCSD.

50/50 — student:teacher ratio.We stand 50/50 in student:teacher ratios at 26:). The older a student becomes, the higher the S/T ratio. Clark County S:T ratios ..K 21:1. 1st 19:1. 2nd 19:1. 3rd 22:1. 4th 29:1. 5th 29:1, and when I was teaching in middle and high school, nearly every class was 35+:1 (and I believe CCSD averages 32:1!). Student teacher ratios, according to a CCSD report, may be the best way to increase educational outcomes.

49/50 — number of districts. Our state has a population of ~3,000,000 in Nevada, and ~320,000 (11%) of our entire state population attends school in Clark County School District.

The Opportunity Scholarship, a state scholarship for students to apply for government assistance to attend private schools, is not a “hand-out” to the rich. It is literally the exact opposite. Families are only eligible if they earn 300% of the federal poverty line or below. (Personally I am not a huge fan of private schools because they can be for-profit, but this is a great example of school choice for those that otherwise would be required to go to whichever school zone they happened to be born in.)

Charter School, a non-profit public school that is privately run and has additional requirements — a charter — to abide by. To clarify: in Nevada a charter school must be nonprofit, but this varies state-to-state and there is widespread misinformation and misconception. See regulations here.

Comprehensive Reform. First, I think it is important to note what the legislature should not do, i.e. what should or is out of the purview of the state legislature. For instance, I believe it would be beneficial to split up the district, but I do not believe the legislature should mandate that. Rather, the legislature should provide the framework for more equitable funding of districts if they choose to split up. (And I do promote splitting up the district. With 320,000 students in a district many of the “economies of scale” are lost because the district is too large and there are not enough companies able to compete on that large of a scale.) The state cannot require non-profit public charter schools to move here, but if we change our funding formula to encourage them to move here, it will benefit students, teachers, the school districts, and the state, because a non-profit public charter school receives less funding from the state and has stricter requirements.

Ideally: The state would make it possible for the counties to do what is best. The counties would support the cities. The cities would support the localities. The localities would support their principals. The principals would support the teachers. The parents would support the teachers. And the teachers would be making the majority of the decisions (with the support of the parents, too). All of that said, there would need to be some sort of standard system so that students would be able to move from school to school easily so as not to shut out families who move in or out of the system — some sort of metric system (<my attempt at sarcasm in politics, but seriously).

STEP 1: Change the funding formula which is over 50 years old and ensure that Clark County get’s their fair share (because we are currently getting less than what we put in). [comments from new superintendent] Changing the funding formula also ensures that when non-profit public charter schools come on board they do not take traditional public school funds. Money is only a part of the solution — but most research suggests that money helps. Making this change, and without adding in more money, we will have more for public schools because a non-profit public charter school receives a few thousand dollars less per student than a traditional public school, but when a student goes to the charter versus the public, the state (or county) keeps the savings rather than the school district. Lastly, see the Proposal 1: Transparency in public funding. Our school districts which are spending taxpayer money should be held accountable. Many people talk about auditing our districts — I agree — public funding should always be an open book.

STEP 2: Enforce student:teacher ratios — at least for public schools. It is wrong for a student to have every class at 35+:1, but this is the case for many middle and high school students. Every class is this large (the ratios are often brought down due to magnet schools and special needs children). If a student has a class or two above 30:1, that is acceptable, but there should be a maximum average student:teacher ratio each child receives. This means that if a student is in one class with 45:1, another class must be at 15:1, so they balance to a maximum 30:1. There is merit to having large classes — sometimes — but to have every class every day at 45:1 is wrong. The legislature has made laws regarding class size, but wrote a carveout that the “State Board of Education may grant a school district a variance from the limitation on the number of pupils per class for good cause, including the lack of available financial support.” https://www.leg.state.nv.us/.../Class-SizeReduction.pdf.

STEP 3: Encourage school choice. “Statistics never lie, but liars use statistics all the time.” We do not have much data on charter schools yet, and the data we do have is hard to analyze. For instance, if a charter school takes in fourth graders reading at a first grade level, and in one year, gets them to be reading at a third grade level, amazing! However, those students will be entering fifth grade reading at a third grade level. We can twist those statistics to show nearly anything. Charter schools provide opportunities for experimentation on a small basis — and if shown to produce positive results — may be expanded. If a charter school utterly fails, they are shut down. However, we must allow them to experiment. Most charter schools are non-profit (the only type of education I advocate for) and most open in the poorest of neighborhoods where the public schools are failing students. If the public school is doing well, the charter school will not be able to convince parents to take them out of that school. We must engage in intellectual honesty when dealing with that which is most important in our society: education. (Most recent 2017–2018 information here.)

And then we need to give the programs time. One of the worst things the largest force can do is ask a system to change all the time. We have major issues NOW, that need solutions NOW, but once we try something — like a charter school, opportunity scholarship, funding formula update, etc., we need to let them set in (unless obvious flaws are detected and then the legislature should of course step in). Plenty of other ideas — but many of them the state legislature cannot and should not address. School districts should live up to their pay promises. For student:teacher ratios and overall learning, move to year-round school (retain two-week winter vacation, expand spring break to two-weeks, break summer break into two two-week vacations, and add an additional two-week break in the fall. This is simply an example, and something the legislature should not require, but can set-up the proper organization so that a school board can do what is best. Another example: we have an abundance of testing required which is tied to federal funds — but that funding only provides approximately $300/student. If we refuse that federal funding (about 3% of CCSD total), we gain many more days where we are able to educate rather than “teach to the test” and/or administer those tests.

Why invest in education? It is the rising tide the lifts all boats.

1. A more diverse and stable economy. A better educational system will entice companies to move here and place their families with children into our school system. It will help keep people here — I have had many friends move away once they started having children. And it will give us a long-term smarter population which is good for everyone.
2. Lower crime rates.
3. Lower teen pregnancy.

And above all, we should strive to be the society that provides an equal opportunity for everyone. Education is that first building block of equal opportunities for everyone.

Unfortunately, investing in education is the personal trainer saying to workout now and most other stuff is a person handing you a brownie enticing you to take the short-term fun and put off the nonsense workout until tomorrow.

With all of this said, it is important to recognize the amazing work our teachers and support staff do on a daily basis. We do have some great programs in CCSD and other great schools around the greater Las Vegas area. We have a robust Magnet school program, and it seems that much of the problem with schools is not the school itself but a lack of motivated children and parents. If a parent does not care about their own child's education it can be difficult for a school to make up for that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this perspective on CCSD.

If we want real change, it will take all of us working together.

2 — Transparency in public funding.

If you (entity, person, etc.) receive government assistance (direct money, tax abatement/rebate, etc.), you must detail all your expenses. This simple legislation will reduce government expenditures immediately in two ways. A) Everyone will be less inclined to receive government funding when it comes with required transparency. Many companies will say, “I have proprietary business practices,” to which I respond, “Then do not receive public assistance.” B) We will not need to pay auditors (as often). There has been a call for an audit on CCSD, which I agree with, but this proposed legislation is a much easier solution. If all public entities must detail their spending, then the audit would already be nearly complete. This would also make it possible for all citizens to look up how their money is being spent more easily. In addition, for individuals who face this requirement, it will hopefully give them the skills to budget and plan accordingly (and we can offer courses on this, too), helping to reduce government assistance and promote self-reliance. Note: If a school is receiving the taxpayer money, the school needs to be transparent and divulge where they spent their money — who/what/where/when, but the entity receiving, like a teacher or supply store, does not need to be transparent. If any entity wants taxpayer/public money — that entity should be completely transparent to the taxpayers/public.

3 — End For-Profit Prisons.

We must engage in rehabilitation — not rent-seeking behavior — in order to best contribute to the public good. We are pitting our own interests against ourselves with for-profit prisons and that ends up costing ourselves (taxpayers) more money. In the first year that a private organization takes over, they do save the taxpayers money — but after that initial year we begin to lose that benefit. A private organization wants to grow and be profitable. In the prison system, this means doing the bare minimum the state requires. Anything they do more of — education, training, rehabilitation, etc. — means less inmates (profit) for them. Rather than more rehabilitation, they lobby the government for harsher sentences and more incarceration. All of this said — in Nevada we do have a ‘low’ cost of inmate of ~$20,000/year. In addition, we should push for more house-arrest. While house-arrest is not inexpensive, it is much less expensive than jail-time and studies show it serves a near-identical purpose (house-arrest should be used when a person is non-violent). Instead of house-arrest, we place people in jail, which costs around 5x as much (~$50/day v. ~$12/day).

4 — Stop public funding of big businesses (socializing costs and privatizing profits).

Note: I do not believe it is right to go back on our word and therefore do not propose reneging on what we have already agreed to.

“The State shall not donate or loan money, or its credit, subscribe to or be, interested in the Stock of any company, association, or corporation, except corporations formed for educational or charitable purposes.” That quote is a part of our constitution (article 8, section 9)— yet our politicians are getting around it — and I intend to put a stop to that. We are spending uncontrollably on stadiums, businesses, and more, creating a situation our former legislatures who wrote this constitution could see and protected us from. Sadly — because both sides of the aisle are for this (unions and big businesses), these deals happen, and the media covers what those politicians who are voting on it say. Do a quick google search for anything stadium cost to taxpayers and see what actual economists say. Campaign finance disclosure has replaced campaign finance reform — well if you look at disclosures you will see that both sides of the aisle received money from companies and unions that benefit from this stadium. If we want to diversify our economy, we need to invest in education (because companies and their families do not want to move here because of our educational system)— and not do the exact opposite by going into long-term debt and “doubling-down” on our hospitality economy. If we want to remain a low-tax state, we must stop giving away our precious tax dollars.

5 — Campaign Finance.

A) Judges may not preside over any case where any individual involved has donated to that judges campaign.

B) Any entity which has received taxpayer dollars in the most recent three years is not allowed to contribute to political campaigns. Campaign finance disclosure has taken the place of reform, because ‘if people know where you receive your money from, they can make their own decision’. I disagree, because psychologically speaking the more a person sees you, the more they like you, and more money means more exposure. That said, in my campaign, both of my opponents have taken money from NV Energy and many other businesses and non-individuals. (I would push for non-individuals to not be able to contribute directly to campaigns, but none of this will even be close to possible. With everything here, only what enough people/voters/elected politicians want will be passed. If you are elected a certain way, why change what helped? I would even push for only residents in the district to be able to contribute because those are the voices the candidate is representing. In the campaign I am running, the D has raised 1.88% from individuals and the R has raised 22.62% from individuals, while I have raised 100.00% from individuals*. (This is different from the Citizens United case which basically allows companies to spend unlimited amounts on political advocacy so long as they do not discuss or collude with a campaign. This is a federal issue and I am discussing state issues.) (*Through the most recent reporting date, 06/07/2018. The percentages factor out personal loans to the campaign, but not repaid loans. Detailed information on all of it can be found at the link provided above or that same link here.)

C) Campaign finance reporting dates should be further in advance than October 16th (four days before early voting. Twice as many people voted early than on election day in 2016) so there’s more public access to information and accountability .

D) The maximum donation to political campaigns should be $2,000 (from the current $10,000 for state campaigns. It is $5,000/election and a primary counts. As an independent/nonpartisan I am able to receive $10,000 even though I have no primary).

6 — Marijuana.

The state shall regulate marijuana in a similar manner to alcohol.

A) The state should not limit licenses (though more local areas may and should make their own laws, much like how the state does not limit gaming licenses but individual towns do, and the state should lobby the federal government to allow banks to accept marijuana money).

B) Marijuana bars. The real money (and tax dollars) in marijuana is not from dispensaries (similar to liquor stores), but from bars (similar to… bars/nightclubs/etc. — not lounges like BYOB but BYOM). The BYOM lounge idea provides very little incentive to a company because it exposes them to a lot of risk without a lot of reward — and that does the same for tax dollars — not much there. We should allow entrepreneurs to open up well-regulated marijuana bars. (Side note: engaging in marijuana use for medical reasons should not negate your second amendment rights. The regulations should be similar to alcohol.)

7—Other.

There are many other issues of great importance. I do not have all of the answers, but I do know that we need to begin to work together to solve our water problem before it becomes a crisis. I know that we need to lower regulations on small businesses and keep regulations high on large businesses in order to promote competition and fair work practices. I know that if we tax income, people spend less. If we tax pollution, people pollute less — it is very simple, but sometimes gets caught up in party lines. We must work beyond party lines.

If you would like to discuss any of this or something else of concern to you, please feel free to engage with me publicly here, or on my Facebook page. If you prefer you may privately call me at 702–972–0974, email me at daniel@danielghofstein.com, or any other means. I want to hear from you!

I am the only person unaffiliated with a party running in Nevada (identified on the ballot as NPP for ‘no political party’) for our legislature and need as much support as possible. I want to work BEYOND PARTY LINES to do what is best for everyone. Join me, will you?

To make a contribution to my campaign or learn more, please visit my campaign website at www.danielghofstein.com.