The real budget debate

Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

Nevada is expected to face a budget shortfall over the next two years of up to $3 billion, and that will take a major toll on the schools. More than a quarter of the state budget goes toward education.

After several rounds of budget cuts, there aren’t many — if any — easy cuts to make, and the state of education in Nevada isn’t pretty. Any number of reports over the years have ranked Nevada’s schools among the worst in the nation. That’s troubling, especially in this economy, because education is critical to economic success. The Brookings Institution reported this year that cities in the Intermountain West region with high education levels have survived the recession better than other areas like Las Vegas.

As Buck Wargo recently reported in the Las Vegas Sun, UNLV’s Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies gathered 40 civic leaders to discuss the economy, and the group called for an investment in education. It said the state won’t diversify its economy or avoid another hard-hitting recession unless it starts improving education.

“We can no longer shortchange the state’s public schools, colleges and universities because of a lack of financial, political, social and economic will,” the group’s report said.

The quality of Nevada’s public schools hasn’t been a secret, yet for years lawmakers and governors have pushed off the problem. They haven’t had the will to solve the state’s toughest issues, like fixing Nevada’s inequitable tax structure to pay for the schools and necessary services.

Unfortunately, that fear has been exacerbated in recent years, as the anti-government undercurrent has risen to the surface with the Tea Party. The knee-jerk reaction is to label nearly any government action as wasteful and wrong.

Some critics of Nevada’s public schools have even denied the studies that continue to show that Nevada’s level of classroom spending is among the lowest in the country. The critics argue that there is plenty of money, and the real problem is that schools are bloated, inefficient and wasting money.

Certainly, the way money is spent is vital, and government can do better, but it’s wrong to say the schools are awash in cash. As Jon Ralston reported last week in his Flash e-mail report, a new Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce report pierced the fallacy about funding, declaring that “an apples-to-apples comparison suggests Nevada spends among the lowest amounts in the nation on day-to-day school operations.”

It’s time for the anti-government types and the school critics to put away their false arguments. The severity of the budget crisis will have serious consequences for years to come. Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval and the Legislature can’t push the tough choices off to the future. Otherwise, the real question in the Legislature next year will be: How much further will the state’s schools, much less other services, erode?

Mediocre or below-average schools aren’t acceptable anymore. The state’s leaders should muster the political courage to make the tough choices and give the schools the resources they need to succeed.