Gibbons launches education initiative

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. kicked off his campaign today for a constitutional amendment to require the Legislature to fund education before making other budget decisions.

Referring to the 2003 Legislature, Gibbons said in a press statement "Never again should the children of Nevada be held hostage to partisan politics in the budgeting process."

A spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn said the governor has reviewed Gibbons' petition and "he supports it."

But even before Gibbons filed the initiative petition with the Secretary of State, there was opposition.

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, an organization of labor, racial minority groups and gays, said the petition does not address the critical problem of providing adequate money for the schools.

"If these people were serious about helping education, they'd be running an initiative to fund Nevada schools at the national average," Bob Fulkerson, state director of the alliance, said. He said Nevada ranks 48th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in education spending per pupil.

Calling Gibbons' education record in Washington "deplorable," Jon Summers, spokesman for the Nevada State Democratic Party, said this morning the congressman has a track record of putting education last. Summers pointed out that while the nation's largest teachers union reports 83 percent of Nevada's schools are in need of repairs, Gibbons has seven times voted against bills that would increase funding for school construction.

"Now that he has decided he wants to be Nevada's governor in 2006, all of a sudden he claims to take an interest in our children," Summers said in a prepared statement. "But Gibbons should put his money where his mouth is and actually fund education -- otherwise it's disingenuous, an embarrassment and Nevada shouldn't fall for it."

Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, the wife of the congressman, said however, "This will be the greatest grassroots campaign on behalf of public education in Nevada's history."

The Legislature traditionally holds the public school budget until the end of the session to see if there is any extra money to allocate above the recommendations of the governor.

The congressman announced his initiative petition in July after the Legislature deadlocked in regular session in passing a tax plan. The lawmakers had passed the regular budget but withheld funding on education until the tax plan was approved.

Guinn filed suit in the Nevada Supreme Court in an attempt to force the Legislature to act on the taxes. The court, in a 6-1 decision, ruled that the Legislature did not have to abide by the two-thirds vote required in the Constitution to approve new or increased taxes.

The court said the Legislature could bypass that requirement when it comes to funding education.

Gibbons was the author of the constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds vote before taxes could be raised.

Gibbons was holding press conferences today at Ann Lynch Elementary School in Las Vegas and at Bernice Mathews Elementary School in Reno to announce his petition. He said former National PTA President Ann Lynch would be present at the Las Vegas news conference and Mathews, D-Reno would attend the Reno event.

Gibbons said he needs to gather 57,000 signatures of registered voters by June to get the issue on the November 2004 ballot. It would have to be passed in 2006 before it became a part of the Constitution.