Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Special session:

Education cuts could mean bigger class sizes

Lawmakers hoping to end special legislative session tonight

Click to enlarge photo

Lynn Warne

As Nevada legislators and Gov. Jim Gibbons' neared a budget deal Sunday night to close the state's budget hole, the president of the state's teachers union was saying 6.9 percent in cuts to school districts won't mean layoffs for Clark County teachers, but will likely result in more students per classroom.

Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said the 2010 special session "just demonstrates the whole process is flawed."

Warne said school districts in Clark and Washoe counties would be able to avoid laying off full-time teachers. But class sizes will increase, as the school districts don't fill positions from retiring or leaving teachers.

The Legislature passed a law giving school districts the flexibility to increase class sizes in the lowest grades.

The 6.9 percent cuts to higher education and k-12 are part of a consensus deal reached by Legislative leaders and Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The deal would take money from Clark County governments, raise some additional money in fees on mining and on bank foreclosure and make some cuts to services. Final details were still being ironed out on Sunday, when Gibbons has declared an end to the session.

With the pace of the Legislature slowing on Sunday evening, Chief of Staff Robin Reedy said Gov. Jim Gibbons is preparing an amendment to the proclamation, extending the deadline until Monday at 5 p.m. Reedy said she still hopes that the Legislature can still finish tonight.

Warne, lamented, "The can is kicked down the road. We have never funded essential services adequately in this state."

Asked about the 6.9 percent cut to education, she took a deep breathe: "There was a lot of dealmaking that went on. Education, at the end of the day, is going to be cut."

Sen. Bob Coffin earlier Sunday said he planned to vote against the deal. Coffin lamented cuts to services for the mentally ill and money taken from Clark County.

"It takes money from Clark County and spends it willy-nilly in the state general fund," he said.

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