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November 28, 2009

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Funds approved for school-standards study

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 9:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Legislative Interim Finance Committee Wednesday voted to allocate $93,835 from its emergency fund to pay for cost overruns in the program to establish academic standards for Nevada schoolchildren.

The money is going to the privately operated Council for Basic Education in Washington, D.C., which helped the state write the new standards.

The council was working for the state Council to Establish Academic Standards and its chairman, Debbie Smith of Reno, said the private firm did extra work the program, not included in the original contract.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the state council asked for additional work outside the original contract.

"I hope this doesn't happen again," he said. He said he wanted assurance that future contracts will have a fixed price.

Smith told the committee that the state council has tightened its contract writing procedures.

This cost overrun has been criticized by the state Board of Education. Board member Bill Hanlon complained the extra money will go to give 10 percent pay raises to employees of the private firm. Yet state workers didn't get any pay raise this year.

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