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Published Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 | 1:52 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 | 5:46 p.m.
Sun Coverage
School districts should prepare for a budget cut of about 10 percent, Gov. Jim Gibbons told reporters today after meeting with school superintendents here.
"Some will have to take more than that," he said. "Some agencies can't cut that much."
Gibbons cited Department of Corrections and public safety as one area that would be spared the deepest cuts. For the second time in two days, he said he has rejected a proposal to close a state prison in Ely.
While the Legislature last session cut funding for school districts, it's up to local school boards to decide how to implement any cuts -- whether through lower pay or less classroom funding. Because of collective bargaining teachers have not taken the 4.6 percent pay cut that state workers have through furloughs.
But Gibbons said he would consider issuing an executive order to ease rules on collective bargaining. And some Republican lawmakers are calling on teachers to take a cut in pay in order to prevent layoffs and lessen the impact of cuts on the classroom.
Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said a 10 percent cut in funding from the state equates to $28 million for the current fiscal year and $85 million for the 2011 fiscal year. When declines in the district's local funding are included, Rulffes the loss of funding for schools will be "profound."
The options for the district are massive layoffs or "smaller sacrifices by all," Rulffes said. He is asking the leaders of the unions representing teachers, administrators and support employees to survey their members and look for possible concessions, including the possibility of furloughs.
The governor could order pay cuts on top of the 10 percent reduction in state support. Superintendents have been warned of such a scenario by Keith Rheault, Nevada's superintendent of public instruction.
To deal with the state budget shortfall, Gibbons' senior staff are coming up with "a list of recommendations and a list of possible recommendations" to address the $880 million state budget shortfall.
Dan Burns, spokesman for Gibbons, said the "possible recommendations" are proposals that the governor would rather not do, but need to be considered. The administration projects 300 employees would be laid off, with K-12 teachers and higher education employees being spared the axe.
"Grab a hold of the notion of shrinking government because that's our destiny," Burns said.
Burns said state salaries will be affected. "This cannot be done without impact on salaries," he said.
Regarding pay cuts, Gibbons told reporters Monday that he believed "we couldn't go much more than 6 percent" before state employees began walking away."
Gibbons is expected to call the Legislature into special session later this month to cut the budget and address the shortfall. Gibbons will give a State of the State speech Monday.
State services, from higher education, K-12 and various departments, are bracing for the governor's recommendations and what the Legislature ultimately does with those recommendations.
Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich warned today of the "unwinding of almost a decade of significant progress in higher education” from proposed cuts.
Local government officials who met with Gibbons on Monday expressed relief that Gibbons said he would not raid counties' and cities' revenues, though they also warned of unintended consequences of cuts to social services.
Gibbons' senior staff will meet with legislative leadership Wednesday to go over some of the governor's recommendations. Lawmakers will begin a series of public hearings about possible budget cuts during Wednesday's Interim Finance Committee meeting.
Sun reporter Emily Richmond contributed to this story.
My heart goes out to the state employees that will take the brunt of these cuts. You don't realize how vital the services they provide are until they are gone.
There is an ocean of anti-government kool-aid flowing around the capital. Nevada most definitely does not have a spending problem. It has a revenue problem. Check the Reuters story elsewhere in the newspaper to see how the Nevada-based gaming giants are doing in Macau. They're making huge sums of money using unpaid Nevada taxes to prime the pump. Unpaid taxes in terms of getting by with a 6.75% cap on their liabiity to the state. This is obscene. OB-SCENE!!
What a shock. A government with less money coming in may actually cut salaries and/or lay off staff!!!! What a concept!!! This must be illegal or immoral or just wrong. Only government spending can save us. Only the government doing more and spending more can save us!!!!
Who will take care of us if there are less government workers or (heaven forbid) they are paid less? Who will tell us what to do if there is less government to tell us how to act or what to think?
TODAY the President decided to again trash Las Vegas and our economy. TODAY the President says not to "Blow your cash in Las Vegas".
Is the President intentionally trying to dump harry Reid? Of is the President just an ideology who can't help but attack to defend his own incompetence. Either way, there is going to be less money here and fewer workers when we are done.
"What a shock. A government with less money coming in may actually cut salaries and/or lay off staff!!!!" Welcome to planet earth Neiman! We have already taken a 4.6 percent furlough, lost cola's and our retirement contributions were raised. Also, those who are not topped out lost their step increases. This in addition to our health benefits almost doubling. This was all done back in July, not today. This is more of the same for us, not something new!! This is going to add to the cuts we have already taken, not be the first. The state has already been cutting long before this article. Maybe you are thinking of cities or counties? Next, maybe you will talk about all those contracts that those state employees have, right?
The prez didn't "trash" Las Vegas, he said people shouldn't blow money in LV if they're not saving for college, etc. Is he wrong? Isn't it the spend & consume & don't save mentality of this country that got us into trouble in the first place, from housing bubbles & financial industry shenanigans, to average people in huge amounts of debt.
It's not the fault of Obama or the US that NV relies primarily on tourists for its income. If that's the way we want it, fine, but we will suffer more from economic busts.
Slash public salaries & lay people off if you will, but more people on the unemployment rolls & fewer people spending won't help the economy much.
What does the governor propose to do about the over inflated budget of the CCSD that has utilized millions of dollars to increase the administration, special razzle-dazzle fantasy programs, but has placed us at the very bottom of the education ladder in the nation?
When will he launch a formal grand jury investigation into every miniscule aspect of the budgetary facts of the CCSD? When will we see demands from the legislature that this self-promotion of double-dipping administrators halt once and for all? When will there be a cut back on the $100,000 salaried positions of administrators? When will we see money that is going to the administration being spent to buy textbooks for every kid in the CCSD for every class they attend? When will we see the CCSD begin to hire more fully licensed, accredited and qualified teachers for every classroom, instead of filling vacancies with part time substitutes?
When will there be a demand that the campus cop program come to an end and this responsiblity revert back to Metro? When will we cut out the overtime pay, vacation pay, accumulated sick leave pay end for the primadonna administators and campus cops?
Why hasn't Walt Rulffes been fired by now as a total incompetent administrator who has 'flim-flammed' the public enough with his soft talk and phony programs promoting more 'good ole boys' up the administrative ladder?
Let the games begin! Governor Gibbons and Nevada Legislators cut the CCSD Budget by 75% for administration and watch the rats abandon ship... Put the money where it is needed most: textbooks for students, comsumable class supplies and qualified, licensed teachers in every classroom. Cut the crappola...cut the administration and do it soon. The Titanic is sinking fast...!
When will the public and the media demand dismissal of Walt Rulffes as superintendent of the CCSD? The captain is incompetent and has placed the education ship in peril of immediate sinking, in fact, we are already sinking and in over our heads in a financial crisis without immediate end.
The budget shortfall is Gibbons fault! The governor is supposed to be the State's manager and all he is a typical R, the party of NO, the only interaction with the state's last legislative session was when he vetoed the good bills that came out from our legislators. Cut Gibbons out is a good first step.
I am confused as to why everyone equates a pay cut to a services cut?
Are the Gov workers afraid they may have to do something or are they just threatening to not do their job if they have to do it for less money.
The private sector took pay and job cuts almost two years ago - glad it is finally catching up to em.
I keep hearing that we spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $620 million on services to illegal's and I'm sure others who are milking the system. So my thought is simple, STOP IT!!! If we did that we would only have a short fall of $260 million. I'm thinking that with that as the deficit we probably wouldn't need to lay off anybody let alone cut their pay 6%. If we don't have all those illegal's to support we can stop printing everything in two languages, how much would that save?
The state should look at some of recorder's fees paid by the banks and pertaining to foreclosures. Those can be increased.
During the housing sale boom fees to file a title transfer averaged over $500. Seventeen and $18 for the thousands of Substitution of Trustee and then the ubiquitous Affidavit of Lost Document filings is ridiculous. (Especially, if you should file a document and then don't, then claim to have lost it! One bank in particular loses almost everything!)
These two documents should have a minimum of a $100 filing fee.
We can cut all the new programs that came in after the massive 2003-05 spending increases. They weren't essential before then and Nevada was doing pretty well back then.
"But Gibbons said he would consider issuing an executive order to ease rules on collective bargaining. And some Republican lawmakers are calling on teachers to take a cut in pay in order to prevent layoffs and lessen the impact of cuts on the classroom."
Ok, here is a suggestion: INCREASE TAXES ON MINING AND WAL-MART BUSINESSES SO THEY PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE COMPARED TO SMALL BUSINESS IN NEVADA!
THAT would be fair!
The casinos and mines who control Gibbons don't need any educated workforce! Don't you guys get it? The dumber the better!
Oh, and don't forget, thanks to the Republicans in state government, led by Bob Beers, this crisis would be 300 million less if they had not "made it rain" like rappers and thrown that money in the wind through the DMV instead of saving it for a REAL rainy day.
Hey, neiman?
"Only government spending can save us."
think about that statement the next time you are in a serious accident on the highway and no one comes to your aid because state troopers are on furlough or laid off and metro is too stretched to come help. Yes, buddy, it does come down to life and death. Ask the most Republican people of all, cops, and they will tell you.
Time to think "lottery", folks.
BIG GAMBLING will argue it's "regressive" but what's more regressive than 1931 gambling taxes or the 1872 mining taxes?
We need new revenue streams - not a hull of a government.
Nevada already has THE LOWEST NUMBER of public employees per-capita. You can certainly cut more of em, but get ready to wait, and wait, and wait... and you certainly can't blame the one's left behind, because you think they aren't working "hard enough" for you.
Pat is right to a point;
Certain things were funded to a level corresponding to the numbers we had during the boom. But, alot of those have been scaled back already. This isn't exactly round 1.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan...
Why don't you list all those "non-essential" programs, Mr. Gibbons? And doing pretty well, eh? What, pray tell, did Nevada lead the nation in, in any thing? What did Nevada rank in say, the Top 25 of any such essential OR non-essential program? And please, provide your references and materials that you use to back up whatever you provide in response. I really want to know who has been misleading us, and how the emperical evidence you must have has been ignored and led to the hoodwinking of Nevada taxpayers. I'm outraged!...
I'm not a fan of big Jim, but even as a teacher, what else is he suppose to do? And I keep hearing about teacher furloughs. How does that work? My whole class takes the day off? Or do they pay a sub to take my place? I don't get it. If you are going to cut days from me, take staff development days (you know, those ones where your kids are home and you don't know why). If you got rid of six of those they would be about 4% of my salary. I think that should be the teacher's Union starting point. Then make pay cuts tapered based on pay. People making lots of money should take a higher percentage than those at the bottom of the totem pole--- sadly though; those highly paid people are the ones deciding where to cut. The higher up always say the most important thing in education are teachers-- that is until their money is at stake.
As a teacher, I am more than willing to do my fair share to help the state get through its budget crisis-- if it's done through the collective bargaining process. If Gibbons tries to get out of working with unions, then I say the state workers, including teachers should strike. Go ahead, arrest us all (After all, this is a right to work state!). Imagine the chaos! Maybe then the people of Nevada will realize that we're all in this together and we can't balance the budget on the backs of one group of people.
Some ideas:
- The Legislature should authorize a special election to authorize moving some CCSD construction bond money into CCSD's general fund.
- CCSD should eliminate the Curriculum and Professional Development Department, the State should eliminate the Regional Professional Development Program and those duties should be given to UNLV or CSN.
- Make parents who are financially able to pay for bussing.
- Raise the fees for taking remedial and summer school courses.
- Cut the 4 worthless staff development days, and reduce teacher pay by those days.
- Conduct a review of every single non-school administrator. Fire all of the consultants, area supervisors, academic managers, and all of the rest of those worthless positions (or offer them jobs back in the classroom). Any responsibilities can be reassigned to a smaller administrative staff.
- Convert athletics to pay-as-you go. Eliminate several sports or make them intramural.
- Eliminate all school-paid out of district travel. This includes sending teams to participate in state athletic competitions. If the kids want to go, they can fundraise.
- Devolve authority in the district to the individual schools. We can't even change our bell schedule without the district getting involved (even if there's a problem.) That's just one example of how the centralized administration of this district is creating jobs that shouldn't exist.
- And as a last resort, lay off support staff and teachers. The district will try the easy way out-- salary cuts-- without even considering any of these steps. Just watch.
Lay off the prison employees and release the prisoners - have a general amnesty!!
Once education is cut you know the beginning of the collapse is forming. Education is the life blood of society and the majority of Nevadanites are out of Staters. They're moving back home. Such a small portion of those who live in Las Vegas are natives, the rest are transplants. The transplants are heading back home, to where ever that is...
"There is nothing which better deserves our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness." - George Washington, Address to Congress, Jan. 8, 1790
How exactly does one "ease" collective bargaining agreements by executive order? If one accepts the proposition that contracts can be freely abrogated by the state without consequence, why stop there? Indeed, the Governor could "order" the budget to balance while he was at it....and that pesky law of gravitation.....
I can see the cuts coming , its a no brainer. Lets start with the big wigs at the Taj Majal,I'm sure theres a lot of nepotism in CCSD. The super, his assistant, and the assistants assistant. What about the spending accounts for the big wigs? Lets get rid of those too, hey what about asisstant principals? Helllooooo do we really need those? Lets start at administrative level first before you take one penny from the teachers . The fat at the Taj Majal needs to be trimmed , maybe an lap band on thier needless office staff is a good place to start. And lets not forget the board of no trustees,Lets cut thier travel and expense accounts , Just leave the core of education alone.
Ten percent isn't bad as compared to losing you job.
Maybe if they cut a little bit law enforcement and the rest of the probloems we could come back and organize and Vegas will be a safe place and gambler ,tourist, friendly and the most important Vegas would be resident friendly (JOBS). U will be EMPLOYED, Safe and alot more finacially better off. ur Cleveland ties
This has allways made alot of sense to me,take money from schools,and then wonder later who is gonna take care of us?Its our future folks!Who do you think is gonna take care of things when you get older.
How about finding alternatives to other spending instead of asking TEACHERS to take cuts....TEACHERS?!?!
Develop a paperless classwork/homework play, and eliminate spending on books...something along those lines. There's so much that COULD be cut...Teachers' already low salaries should be left alone. If anything, cut the executive salaries in the school districts.....a principal making $150k a year could take a hit easier than a teacher making $55k a year. Leave the educators alone....we expect some of the lowest paid college graduate professionals to mold our children in to productive adults, but we sure as (&$% don't want to pay for it because they have summers off....give me a break, and leave their salaries alone!
Nevada screwed itself by NOT raising gaming taxes when the economy was strong because even back then it was FAR overdue...now in this economy it would very unpopular to even consider raising their taxes.
The fact is though, the gaming industry in Vegas has a competitive advantage because of the low gaming tax, and it is true that the low tax helps our economy be able to have that competitive advantage....HOWEVER, there's plenty of room to spare in our rate compared to other gaming markets' rates (outside of Native American casinos that don't have true taxes, just a tax that serves as tribal revenue usually mandated by state compacts).
The gaming tax rate has not been sufficient to help support the infrastructure created by the growth during the 90s and this decade that was created by gaming...and there's something fundamentally wrong with that...and unfortunately the gaming executives controlled the state legislature during that time, its just sad that all of us not connected to the wealth they amassed (personal and corporate wealth) all had to pay for their greed and shortsightedness.
Save money by:
-Not allowing firemen and CCSD maintenance crew(painters, plummers, etc...) to wait and sit around during a job just to do it over the weekend so they can take the overtime.
-get rid of staff development days, some state and national tests, rpdp, lots of administration and other unneccesary staff, sports, busing, and TEAM TEACHING.
-without doing anything, you can count on some attrition in population, and staffing.
Besides time spent grading papers and writing lesson plans, educators are spending more and more time in and out of the classroom just finding alternative means of funding to get the supplies and resources needed to run their programs.
If we decide to reduce what we spend to support our schools, we end up with a less educated population and hence are more susceptible to repeating the same errors that put us in this situation to begin with.
We would very soon get outpaced by other countries, producing a more educated workforce and taking even more work away from our citizens.
Everything starts with education.
Most of the teachers I know will not give up on their students regardless of the budget shortfalls. For example, here's a DonorsChoose.org link for our school's technology needs: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/propo...