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Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 | 2 a.m.
Brian Sandoval
Lynn Warne
Carolyn Edwards
Sun archives
- UNLV president’s somber warning on budget cuts moves faculty to tears (2-16-2011)
- Regent says it’s time that K-12 shares in budget sacrifice (2-8-2011)
- Higher education officials say Sandoval budget cuts a ‘death sentence’ (2-4-2011)
- Education in forefront of upcoming budget battle (1-30-2011)
- Chancellor: University tuition would have to go up 73 percent to cover Sandoval budget gap (1-27-2011)
- School officials warn of jobs cuts, larger classes under proposed budget (1-26-2011)
- A steep climb for Nevadans (1-26-2011)
- Soft words during State of the State hide Nevada in pain (1-25-2011)
- Teachers not pleased with most of Sandoval’s speech (1-25-2011)
- In response, Democrats say taxes might be part of budget solution (1-24-2011)
Democratic lawmakers made their opening proposals to reform Nevada schools Thursday, giving a taste of the carrots they’ll be dangling in front of the Republicans they hope will join them in voting for a tax increase this session.
But first came their argument why Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget and its cuts to K-12 education won’t work.
The governor’s budget, which balances spending and tax revenue through cuts only, is flawed because it uses school construction money to cover operating costs — $325 million that school officials say is unavailable. Removing that money from Sandoval’s plan creates the need for an additional 7.5 percent cut to schools, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford said.
Sandoval’s chief of staff, Heidi Gansert, did not disagree with Horsford.
She and Budget Director Andrew Clinger said the school districts represented their fiscal situation differently before Sandoval released his budget. Gansert said the administration would reconcile budget numbers.
The additional budget hole will make it more difficult for Sandoval and the Republican lawmakers who have uniformly backed him stand firm on their pledge not to raise taxes.
Democrats will also tempt Republicans to break the no-new tax pledge with offers of support for conservative moves on public employee labor rules and the education system.
Indeed, Democratic senators and assemblymen proposed Thursday education reforms they would agree to in exchange for Republican support to avoid the cuts to schools. Included were ideas that traditionally have been championed by conservatives:
• Extend the time required for a teacher to earn tenure from one year to three years.
• Create a new evaluation system for teachers and principals that includes test scores.
• Require teachers and administrators who receive two bad reviews in a row to lose tenure and be placed on probationary status, regardless of how long they’ve been on the job.
Many of the proposals emerged from the work of Nevada Promise, a group formed to pursue federal Race to the Top grants and headed by Elaine Wynn and Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich.
Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said the teachers union would need to review the details of the Democrats’ proposals but “in general, we support these reforms.”
Conservatives also praised some of these measures.
“It’s a huge step in the right direction,” said Ray Bacon, executive director of the Nevada Manufacturers Association. Bacon is a conservative and a member, like Warne, of the statewide task force on education.
“These are the areas where there is fundamental agreement,” he said. “I think Democrats were saying, ‘let’s get this out of the way so we can get to the tough stuff.’ ”
The “tough stuff” will likely be part of the endgame negotiations of the 2011 Legislature, in which Democrats seek to raise taxes and conservative Republicans seek changes to the public employee collective bargaining system, pensions, benefits and education.
Sandoval has called for education reforms, including ending teacher tenure and a long-term plan to use school vouchers. But he has taken a more cautious approach on collective bargaining for local employees, which includes teachers.
In his budget, the governor shifts $425 million from school debt service funds to pay operating costs. About $300 million of that would come from Clark County.
Clark County School Board President Carolyn Edwards said the state could take money from its debt service fund. But it would mean the district would have to restructure its bonds — increasing long-term costs — or raise property tax rates to pay off its debt.
The School District estimates the increase in property tax would be 20 cents per $100 of assessed value, a 38 percent increase from its current rate.
To bolster its case for taking the money, Sandoval’s staff released an accounting of how the district has been spending funds raised through a 1998 ballot initiative on school construction.
Spending in the 2010 capital funds budget was $275 million, almost half of what it was the year before when district was still building schools to keep up with a growing population.
But in 2011, the district’s budget approved spending $422 million. Most of that is for building improvements, including computer and Internet network upgrades. But it includes $74 million in land acquisitions; $41 million for a new northwest Las Vegas bus site; and $15 million for new furniture and equipment.
Warne, in testimony Thursday, said Sandoval’s proposed cuts to K-12 “show contempt” toward public school employees.
She said the average teacher’s salary is $52,000 a year. Sandoval’s proposed 5 percent cut to salaries plus an increased employee contribution to retirement would cost the average teacher about $6,000 a year.
I really wish we could hit the fast-forward button here. It's like watching a JV basketball team (Democrats) try to use full-court press to try and stop an NBA team (that is, the GOP resolve not to raise taxes). I think it's time for Dems to raise the white flag and let the state's infrastrure crumble, so we can begin real rebuilding in 2013.
The Clark County School district needs to look at closing some of the elementary schools. We have schools side by side, with empty classrooms. The need for a year round school calendar in the district ended years ago but the district kept the schools on that calendar anyway.
Clark County School District, not the "teachers salaries" needs to make a transparent review of what is really necessary to provide an education for the students in Clark County. Michigan and Florida school districts closed elementary and middle schools to balance the budget.
It is not unheard of and sensible in our 14% unemployed city.
slick greasy brian sandoval...
a phony smiling big toothed huckster...
who favors mining over innocent children...
mining companies that destroy the land and ship profits out of state and out of country...
over the innocent children of the state he serves...
what a frickin fraud...
slick greasy brian sandoval...
suupports prostitution...
but wants to harm children...
slick greasy brian sandoval is a FRAUD!!!
The voters of Nevada elected Governor Sandoval TO CUT SPENDING. K-12 has been over funded for years. Cut salaries. All public employees convert to Social Security System and save 10% off the top on employee compensation. End CSR--we cannot afford 16 ILLEGAL STUDENTS PER TEACHER in elementary school. Work with ICE to deport the ILLEGAL PARENTS STEALING DIALYSIS AT UMC AT $200k A YEAR.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT MEDICAID/TANF FRAUD--federal programs but the state pays half. We NEED FRAUD INVESTIGATORS. Upon arrest, deport the illegals. Authorize/require fingerprints with applications for benefits--state and local benefits. Cut fraud in the rental assistance programs.
STOP GIVING FREE GROCERIES TO ILLEGALS. Restrict the non-profits to LIMIT SERVICES TO ILLEGALS. Get the ILLEGALS OUT OF CASINO KITCHENS--don't completely abandon American 99ers. WE SPEAK ENGLISH HERE.
I'd say something about dreamin bird brains but I happen to know that Parrots are intelligent.
cnev is onto something. How about teachers on year-round schedules to preclude significant pay cuts next biennium? The City of Las Vegas is looking for office space. How about a couple elementary school buildings rather than force taxpayers to foot the bills for another high-rise downtown?
If the "educators" don't stop filibusters we can do a Rhode Island. Fire all of them. Then hire ENTRY LEVEL TEACHERS at $25K for classes of 60 students. All new hires under SS rather than PERS also cuts costs. Close ALL UNIVERSITIES. We'd then hire lecturers, not professors, at $40K instead of $250K and OPEN ALL THE COMMUNITY COLLEGES for occupational education programs like NURSING and other things we need, NOT GENERAL STUDIES AND DAY CARE FOR 20 year old students.
I don't understand why it is that we have to accept it when democrats win an election, as Obama said to the GOP during the healthcare debates paraphrasing "We won we are in charge" but yet the democrats don't have to accept when a Republican wins. Sandoval was voted in over a Democrat because the majority or the voters here in this state agreed with what he wanted to do, so why is it that they can't accept "We won we are in charge" as in a Republican governor.
Good point nancyb. It is because the media wing of the democrat party wont accept it. A true compromise is only when republicans give in to democrats. Never the reverse.
Good to see that there's SOME agreement on basic reform. I don't think that losing tenure is the only punishment for underperforming teachers, though. I think they need to remove barriers from flat out firing them. In addition, neither the dems (based on this story) or the repubs have acknowledged a hugely important component of these plans...funding for bonuses for the PERFORMING teachers. It can't just be about punishment. There are some incredible teachers in the state, and they need to be recognized.
I guess we'll have to see what's actually implemented before we can praise/criticize any groups involved.
If you sat and listened to the conversations in school staff lounges of late, you would hear the woeful laments of many school employees faced with filing bankruptcy to rearrange their downturned finances. It is a sad time in history, when there is so little regard or care about the very people who serve our state's diverse student population.
In this political shellgame initiated by those who blame educators for the economic demise of the state's budget, the real losers will be all of us.
Nevada's leadership has failed its citizens for decades by NOT enforcing immigration laws so that resort/casino/tourist industries could expand and make fat profits for their private investors. The citizens of not only the state, but of the USA, have suffered underemployment and unemployment due to illegal workers and lax hiring standards and noncompliance to immigration laws. Selective enforcement that the people, citizens are losing money and paying for.
Can this continue? Is it acceptable?
Are we satisfied with "acceptable losses" with our state's and country's people and our youth's future?
Sure hope the answer is "NO!"
This is not about unions, tenure, insurance, pensions. It is about the gross mismanagement of human resources. Where leadership sits in high towers playing the budget game with human beings as their game pieces moved about on a board, where they make up the game rules as they go.
Reform needs to happen by looking at the whole picture, and fine tuning/adjusting in troubled areas. Start by enforcing the laws.
"giving a taste of the carrots they'll be dangling in front of the Republicans they hope will join them in voting for a tax increase this session."
I hate to be cynical, but as a freshman in the state legislature (and still not a jaded politician), I cannot tell you how frustrating it is that Governor Sandoval has shown ALL of his cards and the Democrats have shown NONE of theirs. The ENTIRE budget was presented nearly a month ago, and instead of offering a holistic and COMPLETE budget (as the governor did), the old guard Democrats in the state legislature are playing games by attacking pieces of the budget and offering minor 'carrots' while not presenting a sustainable option.
We are nearly a month into the 120 day budget process and it appears the game plan is to once again try and hold everybody hostage until the end of the session. We do not have time for the political games of the past.
Let's have an adult conversation about the entire budget, now.
Raising taxes to funnel-into the SEIU. Sounds like what devastated Wisconsin and other states like Indiana, Ohio, California, etc. Must Nevada join them? If left up to the liberals, the answer to that question is obviously "yes". Look out, Nevada; If the Republicans cave-in to the Democrats on raising taxes, we are headed for even worse trouble.
Assemblyman Sherwood,
In Kenny Guinn's day a budget with a tax increase was presented very early in the 120 day session and it was torn apart so thoroughly that by the half way mark there was nothing left of it.
Can you really blame the legislative leadership for learning from Guinn's hard knocks lesson?
Sometimes being patient is all we can do.