By Steve Gaskill

It’s always struck me that airline safety videos instruct adults to put on their own oxygen masks before putting masks on their children. It seems counterintuitive, even selfish. But it’s the correct response. Because in a crisis, you need time.  Cutting off your own oxygen in a panic is the worst mistake you can make. Even a small amount of time spent putting on your own mask, keeping your own oxygen flowing, will allow you time to save your children.

Gov. Sisolak’s current budget proposal will cut over 600 teaching positions in Clark County. Our already overcrowded class sizes, the largest in the nation, would grow even larger. Even with Superintendent Jara’s blended learning proposal, it is difficult for me to see how I can fit even 15 students at a time in my science classroom while keeping them safe and appropriately spaced. At a time when six feet of social distancing is vital to saving lives, we cannot embark on a path that will push even more children into classrooms that cannot safely contain, much less educate them. 

Fortunately, the governor also left the door open to revenue increases. Agreed, tax increases now, as we’re just reopening, are not advisable. And if Congress delivers relief, a tax increase may not even be necessary. What we need, then, is a revenue backstop, that won’t go into effect immediately, but that will buy us time to respond to the crisis and plan for the best education we can offer our children.

We have a bipartisan model for increasing education funding already, thanks to Gov. Sandoval. Legislators should pass a deferred business licensing fee increase. This increase would modify Sandoval’s original funding plan to address the funding crisis we are facing. To shield businesses from immediate economic harm, license renewals could be deferred for six months, across the board, to give Congress time to act. In the event that Democrats and Republicans at the federal level do not act, we will have a plan that gives businesses time to get back on their feet and allows schools time to plan for a safe, adequately staffed reopening. 

In the more likely event that Congress does provide relief, we can reverse the fee increase before it takes effect without harming our economy. It’s a gamble, true, but it’s a safer bet than sending kids to school next month without the teachers and resources they need. Adding teachers part-way into the school year is both logistically difficult and highly disruptive to students. The last thing our kids need now is more changes to their learning environment.

To help the business community even further, the Legislature could even allow for limited immunity from COVID-related tort liability, as long as businesses strictly follow the governor’s guidelines. Democrats will have to compromise to help the economy, while Republicans will have to compromise to save schools. Compromise is how good government works.

We cannot turn back the clock on the gains we’ve made in our schools by cutting hundreds of teaching positions. Our graduation rates have risen. Our students are just starting to get the resources they need. As we face this crisis, let’s give ourselves, and Congress, time to deliver the resources we need to keep our schools on life support. 

Steve Gaskill is a science teacher at Knudson Middle School in Las Vegas. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his school or school district.