Legislators also must be accountable for schools

Nevada lawmakers made just one mistake in writing legislation asking parents, students and teachers to sign contracts to improve education: They left out themselves.

It's true that a successful education begins in the home, but that doesn't mean that legislators don't play an important role.

We hope none of them are smiling in self satisfaction, thinking, "We've fixed education, now let's move on to something else."

What they have done with the Educational Involvement Accord is acknowledge how critical it is to improve education in Nevada. Now they should be willing to sign contracts of their own pledging to do their part.

After all, they've asked parents and schools to sacrifice to accomplish that goal.

Now they should be prepared to make similar sacrifices, whether that means funding all-day kindergarten or supporting initiatives that have proven themselves in other states.

If they don't do that during the 2007 legislative session, it's likely the good intentions from the Educational Involvement Accord will be short-lived, and it's unlikely the state's dismal education marks will improve.

That would be a shame, because the ideas set forth in the accord for parents - including reading to their children, checking homework, and volunteering - comprise a good recipe for improving schools. For this to work, however, the Legislature would have to ensure school districts have the resources to embrace the accord and follow up continually with parents rather than file the contracts away.

Currently, schools have enough trouble teaching the students without having to add parents to their list.