Las Vegas Review-Journal

With referrals for expulsion from regular campuses high and funding tight, officials want to know whether alternative schools are worth the cost
By Emily Richmond
For the past few weeks, Clark County principals have been recommending up to 100 students for expulsion each day, putting extra strain on a disciplinary system that many say has long been stretched too thin.

New math tests overwhelm large percentage of Clark County high school students
Clark County School District students tested in January on their grasp of first semester material in high school algebra and geometry didn't just fall short of the mark. The preliminary report on end of semester exams shows they missed it in a spectacular way.

Dramatic 'Heavy Hitter' ads now considered OK
If you watched the Super Bowl last week, you might have seen this commercial at halftime: A group of kids is playing touch football on a playground. A tough-looking youth knocks down a much smaller boy, giving him a bloody nose. Then a heavy-set kid with an in-your-face attitude comes to the rescue of the injured boy. He demands the bully hand over his shirt, shoes and bicycle to the injured youth.

Higher education fees already going up, will rise even more
Tuition will rise 10 percent at Nevada's two universities, one state college and four community colleges starting in the next biennium under proposals the Board of Regents will hear this week.

Attorneys representing the Nevada State Education Association reached out to the Democratic Party of Nevada on Tuesday in an attempt to reach a settlement in a lawsuit the union filed to block the party from operating at-large precinct locations, sources said.

The only thing Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes knows with any certainty is that statewide education cuts totaling $96 million are coming -- soon. He doesn't know what they'll be. He's also not clear on what's legally allowed.

Nevada's top school officials asked and Gov. Jim Gibbons agreed Thursday to provide as much flexibility as possible to make a $96 million cut in public education needed to get the state through an economic slowdown.

Across the state, public education leaders are scrambling to identify the cost and the consequences of Gov. Jim Gibbons' decision Friday to include schools in statewide budget reductions of 4.5 percent. Education funding, initially declared exempt from the cuts, may be reduced by $96 million.

One woman inside the Nevada State College classroom wanted to know where she could enroll in English language classes. Another asked if students can get into college if they don't have Social Security numbers.

Illegal immigrant children caught in middle of debate
Some local students felt their own dreams dim last month when the DREAM Act failed in Washington.

On a cool February night in 1967, several students climbed atop one of Nevada Southern University's classroom buildings and, fed up with the state's stingy governor, hanged him in effigy.

College students complain about high textbook prices, but they've got nothing on Patricia Iannuzzi. UNLV's dean of libraries spent just over $15,000 for a subscription this year to Tetrahedron, an academic publication about organic chemistry.

Latasha Burse was working as a teacher's aide in a classroom of autistic students at Reed Elementary School in March when she heard a loud bang.

The state teachers union announced today it will launch an initiative to increase the gaming tax by 3 percentage points and allocate the revenue for public schools.

Marshell Mitchell recalled Wednesday the reason she took her 9-year-old autistic son out of Reed Elementary School in March.