'Red for Ed' rallies draw attention to school funding as lawmakers weigh changes

Teacher Brian Rippet waved a chemistry book in the air Monday morning.

The nearly 20-year-old textbook is older than most students at Whittell High School in Douglas County, where Rippet teaches. It doesn’t contain 10 percent of the world’s known chemical elements, he said, because scientists have discovered new ones in the last two decades. The acknowledgment drew gasps from the crowd gathered outside the Grant Sawyer building in downtown Las Vegas.

“When kids understand that science is a dynamic process and something that we discover and is ever-changing, they are inspired to succeed,” said Rippet, who is vice president of the Nevada State Education Association. “So we are demanding that our legislators step up and fund our schools.”

Rippet’s plea isn’t necessarily new or unique. Educators have been lamenting Nevada’s K-12 funding system for years, pointing to aging textbooks, outdated technology and large class sizes as evidence of underfunded schools. They ramped up that message again on President’s Day with simultaneous “Red for Ed” rallies in Las Vegas and Carson City — continuing a national movement that has seen educators and community members don red in other cities as they lobby for public education.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/red-for-ed-rallies-draw-attention-to-school-funding-as-lawmakers-weigh-changes