State aid to schools faces ax

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 | 11:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- After hearing a gloomy economic forecast, key members of a Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee said they might have to slash, rather than increase, state aid to public schools.

Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, chairman of the subcommittee, told educators the "plan is cutting this budget, not adding to it." He said that message should go out to the Clark and Washoe school districts.

"We've listened to serious needs and, short of a new revenue source, it is not likely we will fund any of those," he said.

Legislative fiscal staff predicted that if collections do not pick up there would be a $140 million shortfall in the budgets for the next 30 months.

The projections, however, won't be known until May 1, when the Economic Forum meets to make its predictions of future tax revenues.

Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, said statements by Rawson and others show they are coming to the realization that a new tax revenue source is needed. His organization has proposed a 5 percent business-profits tax with 4 percent of that going to public schools.

The budgets for Clark and Washoe school districts are "beyond lean," Lange said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, in his $3.4 billion budget, has proposed spending more than $50 million to give teachers a one-time bonus of about 5 percent. But there is nothing in his budget for a continuing raise.

Assistant Budget Director Don Hataway, representing Guinn, said he doubted the governor would recommend cutting the Distributive School Account, the source of state aid for schools. And he doubted the governor would recommend reductions in programs for teacher training or early childhood development, even with the projected shortfalls.

Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, said, "It is unbelievable to me that we can leave here without increasing teachers' salaries."

But Hataway told Goldwater, "If you want to build salary increases into the budget, that's a whole different ball game."

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, pressed Hataway to get the governor to start submitting his recommendations regarding where to reduce his budget.

"We need a road map," Arberry said, adding that the budget committees don't want to start closing budgets and then have to reopen them "to start whacking them."

But Hataway said another month of revenue figures will have to come in before the Economic Forum meets to make its final projections. The governor and the Legislature must pass a budget that is within estimates made by the forum, a group of five lay persons who are experts in various fields of finance.

Arberry wondered whether the governor would recommend a 5, 10, or 15 percent across-the-board reduction. But Hataway said that was unlikely, as budgets are tight now.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the money committees should start to close or approve agency budgets based on the present trends of tax collections, which have been less than expected.