Columnist Jon Ralston: Settling for less in Carson City

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 4:39 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.

WEEKEND EDITION

June 4-5, 2005

CARSON CITY -- Let's look at some numbers so you can put in perspective what the Legislature is really doing as The Gang of 63 does its biennial slouch toward adjournment.

The general fund budget is $5.7 billion.

There is $2 billion in new money, including a $600 million surplus from the ending biennium.

It costs $72 million, or just over 1 percent of the overall budget and less than 4 percent of the new money, to implement all-day kindergarten, which parents, teachers, many lawmakers and the governor believe is the most important education program the state could pass.

And they won't do it.

Why? Because they would rather spend the money in other places, including sending most people in Nevada meaningless rebate checks that will make little or no difference in their lives as opposed to enacting a seminal, essential lower education program that will make a huge difference in thousands of kids' lives.

During a year in which lawmakers have lavished spending on the higher education system, some of it on worthy projects, this is a missed opportunity on the other end of the spectrum. One percent of the overall budget. One percent. And yet they say we can't afford it, and Democrats acquiesce to a Republican gutting of all-day kindergarten (they got $22 million for all-day kindergarten in at-risk schools) so there can be more pork and the governor can get his rebate.

I write this Friday as the Democrats have declared victory because they have all-day kindergarten enshrined in law, but they are putting in only a sliver of what it costs and there is no way to bind the next Legislature to expand the commitment to completely fund the program.

Make no mistake: Lawmakers are setting kids up to fall behind or fail. But at least you will get your rebate check and UNR and UNLV will get spectacular edifices.

Oh, I hear the argument: That is one-shot money that will not recur. You can't build an expensive program such as all-day kindergarten into the budget because it becomes an entitlement that cannot be removed.

Yes, it does need to be funded every year. But as opposed to class-size reduction, a very expensive but worthy program that was never really implemented in the team-teaching Clark County School District, all-day kindergarten is different. It is the gateway to the public school system and the reverberations of having it would ripple up through middle and high school.

One percent. Just 1 percent. But they can't afford it when we have $2 billion to spread around, including the rebate they can't decide how to provide.

I actually understand the philosophy of the rebate even though I can't fathom the failure to fund all-day kindergarten. If government tells the people it is going to raise a certain amount of money and then raises more, it should give some back, even if it's just a symbolic gesture. Fine.

But the surplus is $600 million, folks. Why not give it all back? And how does it affect the lives of the 15,000 people who will get checks that average $1? Or the million Nevadans who get about $100 or less -- will they be thankful to the government?

Many who get the full $300 may be grateful for the gesture but a great number will have no use for the money and would -- I guarantee it -- just as soon have it plowed back into a program such as ... full-day kindergarten.

What would be so wrong about simply announcing that every Nevadan who can prove that he or she was a Nevadan during the time the surplus was generated -- the current biennium -- getting a thank-you check of $100 from the state?

That accomplishes the symbolic gesture and would leave enough money to enact a worthwhile program, say such as ... all-day kindergarten.

But just watch. Before they are done, if lawmakers who want the rebate amount reduced get their way, the extra money will be used for more pork, more monuments to egos, more pet projects. Do I think the governor should have fought harder for all-day kindergarten -- at least as vociferously as he is campaigning for the minuscule rebate? Of course. But he has surrendered to what he sees as inevitability.

Do I think lawmakers who believe in all-day kindergarten should have kept fighting until sine die for all-day kindergarten if it is as important as they say it is (and it is)? Of course. But they have surrendered, too, mostly because they don't want to rock the boat.

Do I think K-12 and teachers union lobbyists should be calling daily news conferences to press The Gang of 63 to pony up the 1 percent of the budget needed for the program? Of course. But they have surrendered, too, especially because they didn't lose anything or, in the case of the teachers, had their salaries boosted an impressive 2 percent in the second year of the biennium. Bring out the confetti.

What Gov. Kenny Guinn and lawmakers have accomplished during the last two sessions is to barely keep pace with the tremendous growth in Nevada. They have funded the roll-up costs for education and health care and social services, but not done much more.

Guinn deserves credit for ensuring the budget has not fallen behind and that is why he fears a Jim Gibbons governorship so much. He is afraid Gibbons will roll back what he has accomplished.

But since all the governor has been able to do, with a few exceptions, is keep up, and because lawmakers won't take advantage of the current largesse to reach for the stars, they will continue to settle here in the state capital for mediocrity in most things.