GOP backs Miller education budget

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In a reversal of roles, Republicans supported Democrat Gov. Bob Miller's budget to finance public schools, while his own party argued it comes up short.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said Thursday Miller's proposed 19 percent increase over the next two years in funding for schools was "generous."

Democrats, however, sought to add $20 million. The deadlock occurred Thursday in the Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee on education, which was trying to decide on how much to allot to the public schools in the next two years.

One major sticking point is more money for textbooks and school supplies. A common complaint among parents is the lack of books or instructional equipment for their children.

A proposal was before the subcommittee to put anywhere from $2.6 million to $6.8 million in the budget for books. Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, said he gets calls all the time from parents complaining their children don't have books or supplies.

He supported an extra $6.8 million because he said there is nothing in Miller's budget to offset the rising cost of textbooks.

But Raggio referred to past figures where school districts are given money and they don't spend it for pencils or papers or textbooks. For instance, in 1995-96, the districts statewide spent 10.6 percent less than they were allocated for textbooks. It was 17.5 percent less than 1994-95.

Raggio said that over the previous 10 years the Legislature set aside money for textbooks but the school districts have decided to use it in other places.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said he is frustrated that the districts are not using that money for textbooks.

"The school boards are bargaining away this precious money," he said, referring to contract negotiations with teachers.

Coffin said there are new makeups on some school boards and that the extra money should be added to Miller's budget.

"The school boards don't have to bargain it away. They ought to be spending it on textbooks and instructional materials," he said.

But Raggio said the state puts the school aid in a big pot and allows the district to spend it as it sees fit. And he didn't want to be telling the local districts how to allocate their money.

Miller's aid to public schools calls for the $1.99 billion being allocated this biennium to increase to $2.4 billion in the next two years, a $475 million increase. Deputy State Budget Director Don Hataway, who helped construct the budget, said, "That's a fairly sizeable dollar increase."

He said he had no problem if the subcommittee wanted to add more money for textbooks, but he wants to see some assurance that the funds will be spent for that.

Senate and Assembly Demo-crats on the subcommittee voted to add $5.4 million to the cover differences in assessed valuation figures -- $5.8 million to cover a 3 percent increase in the average salary of all new teachers, $2.3 million for additional utility costs and $6.8 million for textbooks.

Republicans on the committee went along with the $5.8 million for new teacher increases and agreed to $1.1 million for utilities.

After the meeting, Raggio huddled with Dini to talk about the differences. It's the beginning of the fight between the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee over funding for education.

No additional meeting has been scheduled to work out differences.