New funding plan could aid teachers

Cy Ryan and Erin Neff

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 11:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Senate-Assembly budget committee has sweetened the pot for schoolteachers, but the deal depends on the outcome of two bills pending before Monday's adjournment.

The committee has allocated more money to help pay for higher health insurance premiums and has opened the door for an extra 2 percent raise next year.

An agreement hammered out by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno; Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson; and Gov. Kenny Guinn was unveiled Thursday as the final piece of the $3.7 billion state budget for the next two fiscal years.

Debbie Cahill, a spokeswoman for the teachers union, said, "We're pleased that this is a beginning ... during the interim we have to come up with a solution. Education in the 2003 session has to be the first thing funded, not the last."

Thursday's agreement hinges on the Legislature passing two bills -- Senate Bill 577 and Assembly Bill 460.

SB577 would raise an estimated $30 million over the next two years by increasing the fees charged on corporate transactions conducted in the secretary of state's office. AB460 would reclaim for the state $23.5 million in auto rental taxes that is now kept by the companies.

Sponsored by Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, SB577 enters its third day of discussion before the Assembly Judiciary Committee while a multifaceted amendment to raise even more money is being crafted behind the scenes.

"We do not feel enough has been done for the teachers," Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said.

The two bills would fund a one-time 3 percent teacher's bonus in the first year and a 2 percent raise for teachers in the second year, plus allow for signing bonuses of $2,000 for new teachers.

AB460, sponsored by David Parks, D-Las Vegas, is sitting on the clerk's desk in the Assembly awaiting an amendment.

If SB577 is amended as expected, Perkins said he believes any differences between the Assembly and Senate versions can be worked out in conference.

Perkins and Buckley declined to comment on how SB577's fee provisions will be amended. Numbers are flying around the Legislative Building on increasing fees even more to raise an additional $6 million annually.

The fees aren't the only issue holding the bill up. When the Assembly Judiciary Committee reconvenes this morning, it is expected to remove certain liability provisions from the bill.

The bill contains liability protection for the personal assets of corporate directors, who may be sued for making a business decision that adversely affects the company's financial health.

James said the liability provisions were necessary to court new businesses to Nevada in light of the increasing fees.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee has heard recommendations from trial lawyers that the provisions be amended to protect those who may be harmed by bad business decisions.

Privately, Democrats say they want the entire liability provision sections removed from the bill. But Senate Republicans don't want to pass the bill without the liability sections.

Raggio told the budget committee, which unanimously endorsed the new education plan hammered out Thursday, that the state will chip in an extra $13 million to help pay rising health insurance premiums. The Nevada State Education Association, which is the teachers union, estimated it needed $27 million.

There will also be $5 million to save "vital programs" in the school districts that were in danger of being cut. It includes money for such things as music, the arts and athletics.

The compromise plan additionally calls for setting aside $23 million to assist with rising energy costs that might hit the state, the University and Community College System and school districts next year. Raggio said about $6 million of the total would be available to the school districts.

There had been a suggestion that $500,000 be allocated for an audit of the Clark and Washoe school districts. Raggio said the leadership "retrenched" on that idea. Instead the Legislative Counsel Bureau will assign an experienced auditor to "do a preliminary survey to determine what areas might be appropriate for audit."

A full-scale audit, Raggio said, would cost $1 million. And this plan lays the groundwork for making a decision in 2003 on an audit of the two biggest districts.