Titus levels a dig against Gibbons

By David McGrath Schwartz, Cy Ryan

Thursday, April 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Former state Sen. Dina Titus, now a congresswoman, returned to Carson City on Wednesday to address the Legislature.

The Las Vegas Democrat might have gained a new title, but it was evident she hadn’t lost her taste for continuing some old in-state rivalries.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, who defeated Titus in his 2006 bid for the Governor’s Mansion, didn’t attend her address, electing instead to go to the dedication of a geothermal project in Fallon.

Asked whether she took offense at the governor’s absence, Titus said she hadn’t expected him to be there.

“He’s probably busy trying to find something to do with all those Easter eggs he has left over,” she quipped, referring to a Las Vegas Sun report this week that thousands of wooden eggs were left over from a poorly attended Easter celebration at the Governor’s Mansion.

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A budget subcommittee voted Wednesday to accept $35 million in federal stimulus money for schools with high numbers of students in poverty. The money will flow through the state Education Department to Nevada’s 17 school districts, which will decide how it is spent.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who has rankled some education officials with proposals for stricter accountability, said the state has “a definite role” in seeing that the money leads to improvements.

“If the dollars don’t get used right, we have a missed opportunity,” Horsford said at a joint meeting of a subcommittee of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees.

The state will receive $35 million initially and is scheduled to eventually receive another $35 million. More than 300 schools in Nevada qualify for Title I grants, which are directed to schools with large shares of students who qualify for reduced-price and free school lunches. Just 158 schools currently receive additional money.

The federal government wants districts to use the money on early-childhood programs, professional development and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers, mathematics instructors and reading coaches, and establishing before- and after-school programs or extended school days.

Joyce Haldeman, representing the Clark County School District, said the money would “hopefully be used to save jobs.” She said she will report to the Legislature when the district decides how to use the money.

The subcommittee agreed to send a letter to each of the 17 districts requesting to see results on how the money is spent.

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The bill to make Clark County Commission posts full-time jobs is in limbo.

Senate Bill 11 appeared doomed had it come up for a scheduled Senate vote Tuesday. But Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, is looking for ways to keep it alive.

Care said he is talking to senators about their objections to see whether amendments might address them.

He said Tuesday that he has no idea what such an amendment would look like.

The bill would require a commissioner to “devote his entire time and attention to the business of his office and shall not pursue any other business or occupation or hold any other office of profit, except for temporary and part-time teaching duties on a university campus.”

An amendment was offered Monday in the Senate to allow the commissioners to set their own salaries, instead of allowing the Legislature to do it. The amendment also said the full-time requirement would not become effective until after the election of a commissioner. The amendment lost on a standing vote with eight senators in favor.

Opponents said the vote was the forerunner of a move to defeat the bill. The bill was taken off the final passage file and held in abeyance.