Raggio: County schools don’t need money: Northern lawmaker says teachers using scare tactics

Terry Webster

Tuesday, May 1, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

One of Nevada's most powerful political figures has accused the Clark County School District and the state teacher's union of using scare tactics to obtain more funding for education.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Washoe, said he believes the school district can well afford to maintain arts and athletic programs.

His comments were aired Monday during an interview on the Sun's television news discussion program, "Face to Face with Jon Ralston."

School officials have said arts and athletics could be reduced or parents may have to fund them unless the district's financial picture improves.

"These are scare tactics," Raggio said. "There is plenty of revenue to accommodate all of these purposes."

He also disputed claims that teachers here are underpaid.

"We're proud of what we're doing, but we would like to do more," said Raggio, citing a study that ranked Nevada 15th in the nation in teacher pay.

He called a proposal to create a business tax to fund education "greedy" and "designed primarily for teachers."

When asked about the school district's contention that it would be nearly 500 teachers short this fall, Raggio pointed to Clark County's rapid growth.

He also said that classroom reduction efforts for grades one through three caused the number of teachers to double.

Raggio questioned whether the cost of the classroom size reduction program has produced results.

He said there is "no indication that it really helped."

On the other hand, Raggio said the state's requirement for certified teachers is a deterrent to candidates who may otherwise be qualified.

A reallocation of tax revenues -- with more going to the state -- would be one way to help solve the state's budget crunch, Raggio said. The reallocation would not take away from local government's current share. However, it would impact its share of revenue from future growth.

Still, Raggio said, it is unlikely any significant changes in the tax structure would occur this late in the legislative session.

He said the state budget is expected to fall about $35 million short this fiscal year. The state is expected to fall short by about $50 million each year over the next two years.

But the state will probably "still be able to provide all of the services that are necessary," Raggio said.

Clark County School Board President Mary Beth Scow said she was disheartened after hearing Raggio's comments regarding the district's budget.

"It's not enough to provide the quality of education that people here expect," she said.

The district has already slashed $50 million over the past two years and is now building a budget that has that deficit factored in, Scow said.

"I've been all around the country to different conferences, and I heard Dallas talking about its $1.1 billion budget," said Scow. "They have less than 160,000 students."

Clark County, which also has a total budget of about $1.1 billion, has a student population of 231,000, the sixth largest in the country.

Under the latest round of expected cuts, all departments were ordered to evaluate every program and every position, Scow said.

"It's very tight," she said. "It really is down to the bone. We've made cuts and we've tried to make them as far away from children as possible."