Petition on funding education gathers steam

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 8:59 a.m.

Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment that would require the Nevada Legislature to fund education before approving other appropriations said their petition drive is off to a fast start.

At a meeting Thursday with the Las Vegas Sun Editorial Board, Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, and consultants Scott Craigie and Jim Denton said they gathered 5,000 signatures in the first week of their "Education First" petition drive.

"I feel this is very important for the future of our state," Gibbons said. "This would bring education to the forefront where it should remain."

Their goal is to gather 57,000 valid signatures statewide by June in order to qualify for the November general election ballot. The initiative would have to be approved in both 2004 and 2006 in order for the state constitution to be amended.

It has been reported that the initiative is sponsored by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., the assemblywoman's husband and someone who has been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2006. But Denton said the initiative was Dawn Gibbons' brainchild and was developed by her after last year's contentious legislative sessions that resulted in record state tax increases.

Gibbons, who is not seeking re-election to her legislative post, said she became concerned that funding for kindergarten through 12th grade education was being held hostage as the tax debate dragged into the summer. Gibbons said she didn't think anyone's intent was to delay funding for education but school districts suffered anyhow.

"Nye County wasn't able to open their schools for two weeks," Gibbons said. "We weren't able to hire teachers. Books weren't ordered as well. As a parent and someone who cares about education it bothered me greatly."

Craigie, a co-chairman of the initiative effort, said that if the proposed ballot measure fails, education will continue to be vulnerable to budget cuts every time legislators debate taxes. And, he said, that could occur frequently because "we're going through a tax civil war in Nevada."

Craigie, who served as chief of staff to former Gov. Bob Miller, said the current way spending bills are approved is flawed because other appropriations, such as those for prisons and Medicaid, must be approved in time for the new fiscal year. But he said portions of the education budget can be carried over into the next fiscal year, making it more vulnerable to possible cuts than necessary.

He said the uncertainty over education funding makes it particularly difficult to recruit teachers. He said that will become a more pressing issue next fall when the federal No Child Left Behind requirement kicks in, compelling teachers to have majored in the subject they teach.

"This initiative gives education the same deadline as the other appropriations," Craigie said. "You're never going to stop wrangling among legislators, but you're not going to give them an out because they will have to fund education first."

Another proposed ballot initiative sponsored by the Nevada State Education Association, which represents teachers, would require legislators to fund education at the national average.