Lawmakers criticize Guinn’s education budget

Brendan Riley

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2001 | 6:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Gov. Kenny Guinn's $2 billion education budget was questioned by lawmakers on Wednesday, with some saying it's not enough and he may have to face up to more taxes to fund Nevada's public schools.

Don Hataway, Guinn's deputy budget chief, told members of the Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees that they had to keep in mind "the whole picture" when reviewing the proposed school spending.

Hataway added that the GOP governor clearly wants to raise funding for public schools even though the percentage of general fund dollars spent on education would be lower in the coming two years compared with the current two-year budget cycle.

"The whole picture is that we didn't fund k-12 (schools) adequately," snapped Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, a teacher when not serving in the Legislature.

The $2 billion in the education budget includes $1.2 billion for the elementary and secondary schools. The rest is for community colleges and universities.

The k-12 funding is based on a formula that currently distributes $3,804 for each of some 330,000 public school students to the schools. Guinn wants to raise that per-pupil support to $3,896 in the coming two years.

Giunchigliani and other members of the money committees also said that while Guinn's proposal represents a $92 per-pupil raise, up to half the new money might be needed by school districts to pay soaring utility bills rather than buy educational materials.

Guinn also wants to provide one-time, 5 percent bonuses to teachers, using $57 million in surplus funds. That would amount to about $2,000 for teachers earning $40,000 a year.

But critics said educators should get pay hikes they can count on year after year - rather than one-shot funds that might not renewed by the 2003 Legislature.

Concern about one-shot funds also surfaced as the lawmakers talked about Guinn's plan to spend $20 million in surplus funds on training, technology and textbooks - the "three Ts."

Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, questioned whether there was adequate control over the way the money would be spent. And Giunchigliani said a fourth "T" must be discussed - taxes.

Nevada teachers gathered enough signatures last year to force the 2001 Legislature to consider a proposed business profits tax that would generate more money for education.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, suggested higher taxes on casinos. He's long been an advocate of increased levies on the resorts. Guinn says he favors no new taxes.

In budget discussion Tuesday, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, also questioned Guinn's idea of a special legislative session, after the 2001 session adjourns in early June, to consider additional raises for teachers.

Lawmakers also have expressed concern about Guinn's proposal that they look at possible expansion of a pilot program in Elko County that increased the number of students in some public school classrooms from a state-mandated 16 to 21 for every teacher.

Guinn has proposed $3.85 billion in general fund spending for state government operations for the next two years. Of the $2 billion for education, $1.2 billion would go to elementary and secondary schools and the balance to Nevada's university and community college system.

The total education budget is up 13 percent over the current budget. But as a percentage of all proposed general fund spending, it would account for 52 percent instead of the current 55 percent of the total.