Tuesday, July 1, 2003 | 11:34 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Teachers unions and school districts are attempting to join Gov. Kenny Guinn's lawsuit to force adoption of a tax plan to fund education, officials said this morning
The unions as well as the state's two largest school districts are filing briefs in support of the governor's petition to the Nevada Supreme Court, officials said.
Clark County School District officials said this morning that the district would be a party in a friend of the court brief that will be filed this afternoon or Wednesday. Washoe County School District will also be a party to that filing, Clark's Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Agustin Orci said.
"We think that some of the other school districts will join with us in this, too," Orci said. "We're hoping to remind the Legislature of the impact that this is having on schools, and we're looking to the court to mandate that the Legislature does its job."
Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, said his group has similar objectives.
"Our interest is to make sure these schools remain open," Lange said.
He said the association could file its brief as soon as today. Lawyers for the organization have been working for the past two weeks on the legal issues.
The association can either file a friend of the court brief or ask to become an intervener. The association's lawyer, J.J. Jackson, said that with either route the court would have to grant permission for a filing.
Jackson said an intervener would be able to participate and argue the case. If a party is declared a friend of the court, that allows only for filing of documents in relation to the case.
Lange said the association put its membership on alert two weeks ago about the problem. He said the board of directors is meeting tonight to review the situation and to invite the support of the National Education Association to prepare strategy for a potential shutdown of the schools.
State Controller Kathy Augustine said Monday she has distributed the latest monthly payment of $60 million to the school districts and it should be in their accounts today. The next one is not due until August, she said.
But the $1.643 billion school funding bill for this biennium has not been passed by the Legislature. It was approved by the Senate but never cleared the Assembly.
Without a budget, Clark County and other school districts across the state, have had to delay hiring new teachers. If a budget is not passed by July 15 more than 400 specialist teachers in Clark County will have to be reassigned to help with some of the 745 regular classroom vacancies created by the district's inability to hire new teachers.
The Clark County Education Association, which represents about 10,000 teachers and specialists, will file briefs with the Supreme Court this afternoon, Association Executive Director John Jasonek said.
The association will either file a motion to intervene or an amicus brief joining with Guinn's suit.
"The extra wrinkle that we're going to throw in is that we're going to challenge the constitutionality of the two-thirds majority," Jasonek said.
If the Legislature had needed only a simple majority instead of a two-thirds majority, the tax plan and the state's education funding would have passed.
Clark County School District officials and parents expressed frustration at the legislative stalemate and said they hoped for quick action from the court.
"This is really what I expected, but it's still a disappointment," Clark County School Board President Sheila Moulton said. "The Legislature has not shown the leadership or the courage to get this done and its hurting the children."
Teri Witzel, president of the Katz Elementary School PTA, said she was having a hard time finding the words to describe her frustration.
"I guess angry would be a good word right now," Witzel said. "The Legislature started out playing games and treating 250,000 kids as pawns, and now they're messing with the livelihoods of 100,000 adults.
"I think a large part of the blame should be placed on the lobbyists. I think they caused a lot of this."
Sen. Ray Shaffer, R-North Las Vegas, also wondered if lobbyists should be held responsible for the deadlock, but Erdoes pointed out that legislators, not lobbyists, are named in the suit filed by Guinn.
The Senate this morning passed a resolution to be filed with the Nevada Supreme Court. The resolution notes that the Senate complied with the Nevada Constitution and passed legislation for aid to schools and taxes to cover the budget.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said it was "our obligation to respond" to Guinn's petition to the Nevada Supreme Court.
The petition was filed by Attorney General Brian Sandoval early today, shortly after the midnight start of the new fiscal year.
Brenda Erdoes, chief attorney for the Legislature, said the court can dismiss the petition filed by the state attorney general or it can grant it without giving lawmakers a chance to respond.
Erdoes said the most likely procedure will be for the court to set a briefing schedule that is generally 10 to 30 days. She said there is nothing to prohibit the Legislature from continuing to meet during this period.
Supreme Court Justice Bill Maupin said that the suit is "on the front burner."
Some members of the Supreme Court are in Las Vegas hearing cases today, but Maupin said he expected justices to meet quickly and decide the procedure for handling the petition. Two years ago when there was a dispute over the time for closing the Legislature, the court quickly handled the situation, Maupin said.
Maupin said that the court can quickly set a process for handling the case expeditiously adding, "We have never seen anything like this before."
The Senate adjourned after its brief session this morning.
"We shouldn't be sitting around her collecting salary and per diem and not doing anything," Raggio said.
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