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Mona Shield Payne/Special to the Sun
UNLV alum Frank Salvo, 34, protests education budget cuts in Nevada during a rally Sunday, March 6, in front of the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip.
By Jackie Valley (contact) 
Published Sunday, March 6, 2011 | 4:47 p.m.
Updated Sunday, March 6, 2011 | 8:50 p.m.
Sun archives
- For professor, threatened cuts are demoralizing (3-2-2011)
- Democrats say Sandoval budget has $325 million hole (2-24-2011)
- 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)
A student-led rally started with a “eulogy” — somber messages from hundreds of protesters gathered Sunday on the Las Vegas Strip to oppose what they called Gov. Brian Sandoval’s death sentence for education in Nevada.
Their stories — filled with messages of anger alongside a resiliency to keep fighting — elicited loud chants of “save our schools,” a phrase emblazoned on black T-shirts many wore to the funeral-themed protest, which brought about 500 people to the Strip.
“We cannot even compete in our own country (in education),” lamented Colin Seale, a teacher and UNLV law student. “And they want to make cuts to that? I’m happy when I get a kid that’s at grade level.”
The attendees’ slogans on posters echoed the same sentiments: “Nevadans care about education! So should you, Mr. Sandoval,” “What happens in Vegas matters,” and “Budget cuts? Nevada bleeds.”
Sandoval’s proposed cuts to education include reducing the average per-student state support from $5,192 this fiscal year to $4,918 in each of the next two fiscal years. The Nevada System of Higher Education says there is a $163 million reduction from its current budget as recommended by the governor.
If the proposed cuts to higher education were made up only through tuition hikes, state education officials have said it would translate into a 73 percent tuition increase.
That point brought UNLV senior Lluvia Valenzuela, who carried a tombstone-shaped poster reading “R.I.P. access to education,” to the rally. Now a biology student, Valenzuela said she hopes to enroll in the university’s dental school after graduation.
“I just want tuition to stay the same,” she said. “They don’t think about the people.”
Others, like Jennifer Cavada, said she attended the rally for the sake of future generations.
“I’m here because I want my children to be educated enough to compete for jobs,” she said.
Her sons — elementary school students Gabriel and Joseph, and eighth-grader Anthony — toted signs reading “cuts hurt” and “honk 4 education,” the latter of which received a chorus of beeps from passing motorists on Las Vegas Boulevard.
More drivers joined the rally by honking as the brigade, billing itself as a funeral procession, marched more than a mile from near the Bellagio’s fountains to the Palms.
“Forty-eighth in the nation, we need education,” the crowd chanted while walking along Flamingo Road.
Assembled outside the Palms, the rally attendees took aim at the governor’s proposed cuts, calling education a right, not a privilege.
“We need to send a message to legislators and to Gov. Sandoval up in Carson City that we cannot sustain any more cuts,” said Lynn Comella, a UNLV professor in the women’s studies department. “Cuts are not the answer. We need more taxes.”
Laurie Lytel, a visiting professor at UNLV’s School of Social Work, said it’s painful for her to tell students she doesn’t know whether the program will exist if the proposed cuts gain approval in the Legislature.
“If people don’t get an education, they’re not going to be able to support themselves,” Lytel said.
Hand-in-hand, Melissa Marvin and Sam Shield, respectively a UNLV substitute teacher and UNLV student, march along Las Vegas Boulevard during a protest against education budget cuts Sunday, March 6, in front of the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip.
Dressed in a Day of the Dead-themed costume — complete with morbid face paint — Karoline Khamis was among the students who worried her program might be in jeopardy. The women’s studies major at UNLV said her job at the Women’s Center could also be on the chopping block.
“We’re going to have to absorb as many cuts this year as we have in six years,” she said.
Khamis said she was glad to see a large turnout for the rally.
“With so many students that have one or two jobs, it’s amazing this many people came out,” she said.
The pro-education rally evolved from an idea hatched by a group of students chatting the previous Sunday at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf near UNLV’s campus, said Alfonso Ayala, who graduated in May with a master’s degree in higher education.
The idea for a demonstration set in motion a week of organizing and spreading the word.
“The movement behind us is just phenomenal — from 10 students sitting at the Coffee Bean to this,” he said, surveying the chanting crowd outside the Palms.
Protesters plan to descend on Carson City on March 21 to deliver in person the same message, organizers said.
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling brian sandoval...
this maggot is nothing but a huckster...
building a resume on the backs of k-12 kids...
building a resume on the backs of college kids...
there is no nobility in that brian...
you are a coward...
you are a fraud...
you know what takes guts brian...
it takes guts to stand up to the most fortunate among us...
like mining...
mining strips the land...
ships the profits out of state...
and worse out of country...
they are swimming in cash...
and yet...
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling brian sandoval wants to hurt the children of nevada...
this coward wants to pick a fight with kids...
bravo brian...
you sir...
ARE A FRICKIN COWARD AND A FRAUD!!!
this was an excellent start...
an excellent start...
when is the next rally???
when is the rally outside the governor's mansion???
"Let them eat cake..." said Sandoval from the taxpayer's Mansion.
These people are fools. The State of Nevada does not care about or even want people like them. It's about stealing from the poor and giving to the top 1%.
Wake up sheeple!
SHAME! I'm more worried about children in foster care and family services for the defenseless than adults that can get a job and pay for college if they want it.
Chunky says:
We all care about eduction, social services, public services etc. but the fact is we have to balance the budget.
There's no simple answer other than the state can no longer continue spending more than it has revenue to pay it's bills.
No pain, no gain; we're all having to give a little more and do more with less these days.
Businesses are struggling to keep the doors open and We The People are struggling as well; there's no room or support for new / higher taxes.
Our government and it's institutions have become bloated and obese. Time to go on a diet and trim the fat wherever we can.
Educators, it's time to bring innovation to the table and become part of the solution instead of cryin' and whinin' !!!
That's what Chunky thinks!
everyone is cutting back and it is time for the public sector to do the same. Go to work and get pay plus some medical and a 401k match. done
Get a job and pay for your own education...
The hyperbole is getting tiresome. NSHE's current spending in this biennium is estimated to be $3.4 billion - and that is excluding debt repayment and capital projects. The sum of the loss ARRA stimulus and general fund cuts amount to $258 million over the next biennium. In other words, the total cuts are about 7.4 percent of current spending. Big, but totally manageable.
Not that spending more money will produce greater student achievement anyway: http://www.thewesternwrangler.com/2011/0...
http://www.thewesternwrangler.com/2011/0...
Innovation, not more spending, is what we need now.
Ask the union pension funds for a loan!
Whining little sniveling free loading mindless trolls; we have spent trillions upon trillions on education and all America has to show for what we've spent is Obama. What a waste of our money and we're done wasting money on liberal programs that have not produced anything useful or meaningful.
The system is broken and quite frankly, most Americans could care a less what happens to the mindless trolls. The only thing we care about is how our money is going to be spent in the future and it doesn't include the mindless liberal trolls. Move to California or some other place where you're appreciated and suck off their system, you are not welcome here anymore.
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling brian sandoval...
this maggot is nothing but a huckster...
supports prostitution...
hates education...
hey brian...
you sir...
ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD!!!
hey timmy...
where did you and your kids go to school???
somebody at the sun...
or at one of the local tv stations...
needs to do an expose...
on whether slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling huckster brian sandoval...
received any financial aid for high school, college, or law school...
i wonder???
hey brian...
didn't you go to unr...
didn't the state help subsidize your college education...
you sir...
ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD!!!
China has a wise leader- Nevada has Head in the Sand
Chinese VALUE EDUCATION:
The leaders that drove China's dramatic economic rise remain solid according to Wen, presenting the plan for the next 5 years. Wen declared there was huge potential demand in the market and a supply of funds was ample with a leveled up overall scientific and educational level of the people.
He promised an increase in education, healthcare and public housing funding and to bring an end to the sparked dislike between the rich and the poor.
If higher education is murdered, then Nevada dies with it. Brian Sandoval holds the gun. Will we let him shoot the fatal bullet?
Businesses keep telling us they don't want to invest in a state that doesn't value its workforce. Unless we give them the kind of educated workforce they want and need, Nevada is doomed for even more misery and economic death.
For many of you who may not know, the Sun only allows the "trusted" comments to appear on the main page of their stories, it says so right on their site. However, one of the most prominent comments is of a reader calling students, teachers, parents, and faculty sniveling free loading trolls. I'd expect that type of comment to fly at the RJ, but not from the Sun.
There goes Gibbons again with his deliberate obfuscations of facts. He is irresponsible here, and deliberately misleads.
His gimmick: conflate ALL spending as NSHE "current spending" (which includes money designated in the whole system for buildings and maintenance; utilities, fixed expenses, and earmarked projects which cannot be diverted to any other use; also, he includes assigned grant dollars not in any way related to classroom activities; the medical school and hospital expenditures; and research grants from other sources for the two Desert Research Institutes and Gaming Institute that cannot be reassigned; and other funding which is not on the books of our state schools): note that these are funds that have little or nothing to do with the current budget crisis.
Gibbons does this intentionally to distort the truth so as to minimize the consequences in his posts. Then he puts a link to an unsubstantiated, unsourced right-wing opinion blog that is not a credible source: not even the echo chambers of Fox News would use this idiotic dreck...
Here is the reality at UNLV: 2008-2010 cuts already made of 27% -- including job losses, lay-offs, the whole catastrophe; now the proposal to add another 18%-20% on top of this for 2011-2012 --a total cut of 45%-47% in 4 years, which is unsustainable.
These figures come from the Vice President for Finance at UNLV, and the President -- Note: appointed professionals who can be fired for academic dishonesty if such figures are not as accurate as humanly possible when reported to the Board of Regents.
This proposed new cut will now wipe out whole departments and programs and all the faculty and staff in them; it quite likely will force the university into "exigency" (bankruptcy). And worst of all, it will do irreversible harm to the opportunities and careers of Nevada students.
Education needs to be streamlined. If the money is not there then cuts must be made, no one is exempted. No one can expect the taxpayers to carry the load everytime people want or demand funding. The taxpayers are consumers, consumers is what runs this nation. Keep raping the taxpayer will only result in more unemployment.
Mr. Unger,
That is the NSHE operating budget and it excludes debt repayment and capital projects. Some of the money is already tied toward certain projects, its true, but people like you grossly overstate this by misleading people to assume that nothing in the budget can be touched to mitigate the effects of general fund revenue loss.
Additionally, much of the funds actually go toward education, research and related expenditures - even though the general fund revenue makes up just 1/3rd of those expenditures.
In other words, people like you are trying to have their cake and eat it too. You're trying to claim that cutting a portion of 1/3rd of the budget will destroy education and research while ignoring the other 2/3rds of the budget that also funds education and research.
its a distortion of the truth.
The reality is this - higher education is facing a cut of 7.44 percent of current spending (a good chunk of this is a loss of one-time federal stimulus they knew would be lost this upcoming biennium way back in 2009 so they've had time to prepare for it).
PS, my figures come from the Nevada System of Higher Education board of regents, February 2011 Board of Regents meeting (handout). I also have a copy of the excel file if you want it.
Any figure claiming cuts larger than 10 percent are cuts from a portion of a portion of overall spending (excluding debt repayment and capital projects).
Claiming cuts as high as 45 percent cannot be achieved without mathematical fanagingling imaginary numbers or royally screwing up basic mathematical calculations (which UNLV officials have done, I caught them at it, Chancellor Klaich has even apologized for the hyperbole and overstatement of the numbers).
Chunky says:
Some of these educators should be fired for "academic stupidity" and for letting their institutions get so fat and bloated! They should also be fired if they don't get off their tails and figure out how to do more with less until such time our economy, tax base and their students can afford to fund it.
Whole departments, half departments, reduced schedules, pay decreases.... you know the stuff the rest of the country has been facing for two plus years now. Whatever it takes!
This is not an all or nothing proposition the academic administrators want to paint it as. Take whatever budget you get, salvage as much as you can and build it back up from there.
It just seems like they want to complain, protest and paint a doom and gloom picture instead of rolling up their sleeves and getting to work!
That's what Chunky thinks!
The Nevada Constitution, Article 9 Section 2.1, states that "The legislature shall provide by law for an annual tax sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the state for each fiscal year; and whenever the expenses of any year exceed the income, the legislature shall provide for levying a tax sufficient, with other sources of income, to pay the deficiency, as well as the estimated expenses of such ensuing year or two years." It doesn't specify who needs to be taxed. The way I read this by cutting the budget of public services instead of raising taxes the legislature is acting unconstitutionally. The two huge industries in this state that are taxed at the lowest levels when compared to the rest of the country, gaming and mining, should feel the pain as well. I am all for trimming fat, but lets start at the upper levels instead of where it can least be afforded.
PS, awhile back I proved that through proper math the cuts to appropriations between 2008 and 2010 were around 9 percent system wide - NOT 27 percent.
This however, is appropriations, NOT actual spending. I suspect when you take into account actual spending the cuts are a lot less.
I am still waiting on the information request I submitted to them 1 month ago (by law they have 5 days to respond in writing).
The party is over, people. We can't afford it anymore. You want to go to college, you pay for it. Don't ask the taxpayer to foot the bill anymore...
UNLV's FY 2010 budget - excluding Dental School, Law School, and Athletics was $544.2 million. What is the budget cut to UNLV - $47 million? If that is the two year budget cut that isn't even 10 percent of 1 years spending...
Unger above wants to exclude student fees, grants, and the self supporting budget which itself excludes plant funds, loan funds, endowment funds, and scholarship funds.
In other words, Unger wants to look at a portion of a portion of the budget in order to make the budget cuts appear more dramatic so he can claim catastrophic devastation to education and research while ignoring about 80 percent of the spending, most of which also goes to fund education and research.
Whoa Gibbons, my head is spinning!
I wouldn't take anything from Patrick Gibbons seriously. He works for the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI), a PR outfit which is anti-education. Why? Education costs tax money, and NPRI is anti-tax. NPRI is especially against taxing billionaires, such as Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and supporter of NPRI.
Again: Gibbons conflates in order to obfuscate. He puts all fixed costs into the same basket as academics; plus all outside funding (grants and other) tied to specific institutes and research.
The cut percentages cited are accurate as reported by the VP for Finance and the President of UNLV.
Hey kids, if you can't afford college THEN DON'T GO. Or just take one class per semester if that's all you can afford. Thanks so much for setting us up for the next bubble--there is now $900 BILLION in outstanding student loans, half of which is in default or deferment. Do you want fries with that? and Sallie Mae just left you a message on you iPhone.
The bottom line is this: very few white collar jobs are not in danger of automation or outsourcing.
How we deal with these issues in the future will be very determinative in how well Gen Y turns out, particularly in our cynical and crass culture where kids mindlessly walk into $55,000/year colleges because they have been inculcated from the cradle that education solves everything, and, hey, we got a loan here with your name on it!
Not anymore. One might daresay that the plumber, the electrician, and the car mechanic have more secure futures than the lawyer, the radiologist, and the MBA.
American students already owe $829 billion in student loans, and relatively few hold jobs that make their investment/gamble worthwhile. This is the pivotal issue of the next ten-fifteen years, as we suddenly discover that a shocking number of college grads won't be able to afford a home, family, or major consumer spending until middle age, if ever.
Never fear, it the tuition is raised there will be a matching increase in gov't student loans to bridge the gap. Of course, it will take a few decades to paydown those loans flipping burgers at the lowest level of pay.
Mr. Gibbons you are right on one point.
"The hyperbole is getting tiresome"
Aside from the fact that your entire argument revolves around many self propagated fallacies that you continue to extol as "the truth"
Increased education spending actually DOES produce greater student achievement.
http://cc-nsc.com/sos/?infobox=proven-fu...
Your other fallacy Mr. Unger has already dealt with. Not to mention that he is right when he states that you work for NPRI.
From NPRI's own website "Those who contribute to NPRI do so with the understanding that they can, if they choose, remain anonymous" "Donors alone decide whether they want to go public."
Sounds pretty shady to me for a "research institute".
The Casino Industry has developed such a talent for creative accounting in the form of tax shelters, umbrellas, dodges, etc. that they only pay a fraction of the taxes they did ten years ago, before Bush.
The Casino industry has no connection to Nevada other then to use the airports, land and water for generating profits and then transport those profits to other parts of the country and world to "Pay Debts".
The Casino Industry is out for their own aggrandizement and Nevada has just begun to pay.
Another racist comment by Birdie against people of Hispanic origin.
Birdie so much hate, fear, and ignorance.
Eliminate a few of the salaries on the top of the administration over two years. That puts a dent in the $47.5 million hole.
Interesting. Patrick Gibbons is no longer listed on NPRI's staff page. Got fired, maybe? Did they maybe find out that your "experience as a teacher" was one single year? Couldn't hack it in the classroom, so turned against schools?
When one looks at the leaders in education around the globe today and compares their standards and purposes, the US as a whole (and Nevada as a last-place finisher) comes in twentieth or twenty-fifth depending on whom you trust.
That's good enough right?
We don't really think that this Information Age is going to be a thing of the future, right? So hanging onto our culture of glitz, gambling and boozing is just as effective as learning communities for the next generation of losers, right?
And Patrick Gibbons should be pardoned for his atrocious conflation, confounding and misconstruing as he is PAID to do so for his need to buy beer to assuage his guilty conscience of all the crap in his wake.
The billionaire bullies need him to make this crap up; they pay him to reorient the facts so that it seems like truth when, as Gibby himself knows quite well, it is all pure crap.
Don't blame him. He's just the poor sap who tries like the devil to manipulate and deceive as he is told to do. He has a conscience, albeit buffeted and bloated with Heineken to conflate the guilt of his despicable sins against the lady with the scales.
ShannonK:
LOL.
This would explain why he is hawking his right-wing rag (Western Wragler) and not NRRI stuff.
Lon Kruger knocks down a million two something. Is this good investment in education? "Pass, shoot, dribble, fake!"
Actually, Gibby didn't even finish his one year in the classroom. He was 'let go' early. The details are sketchy, but who cares.
The heart is the chief feature of a functioning mind.
I think if you cut the number of school administrators and others that do not teach you could millions of dollars. I often wonder what these administrators really do except attend meetings of dubious importance.
Turrialba: Yep, looks like you are correct because he doesn't list NPRI on his "about me" at Western Wrangler.
I find it fascinating that he thinks one year (or less, as Joe claims) as an educator makes one "experienced." Sad, sad, sad.
Shannonk:
He is not listed on the NRPI staff either.
Joe:
Are you making that up?
Patrick:
Speak up and clear the record up on this one. It is a matter of honor.
Patrick is a "consultant" now, didn't you know? I guess people consult him on how to tell lies and make them sound believable with statistics and "facts." Maybe the NPRI "consults" him now so it can hide their identity as the masters who employ him.
Funny thing is that in looking up some of the studies that Patrick has posted, I discovered that the studies didn't show what Patrick was claiming they did.
The economy is weak and yet the unions are hammering for higher taxes and increased spending.
THERE IS NO MORE MONEY !! IT IS TIME TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET BY WITH LESS.
I don't care how much you protest. Now is the time to cut payrolls and PERS.
The kids need to give up Spring Break and binge drinking and pay their own way.
Let's see, students are "entitled" to have low tuition. Teachers are "entitled" to have extremely high pay. Get real, The tuition rate hasn't risen anywhere close to the percent the teachers pay and benifits has in the last 15 years. Yeh guys, it tough, we all ate Top Roman and sacraficed to get an education. You want to protest, protest about the high pay and benifits you're paying the teachers and their unions.
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling brian sandoval...
a right wing teabagger not job...
who wants to hurt the least fortunate among us..
who wants to hurt minorities...
who wants to hurt immigrants...
are you listening our hispanic friends...
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling brian sandoval...
he ain't your friend...
he's a sellout...
he is a total and complete fraud...
don't believe me...
ask your self this...
do you send your kids to private school???
do you own any stock in mining companies???
if you answered "no" to both of these questions....
you are a fool to support slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling brian sandoval...
our huckster governor...
who is A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRUAD!!!
pop quiz boys and girls...
ready...
here goes...
what do brian sandoval and clarence thomas have in common???
Have we reached the point to total nonsense? At college age of 18-22 years or so, people should be at their most productive and most fit times yet they DEMAND HAND OUTS? How about WORKING YOUR WAY THROUGH COLLEGE? Have some respect for your elders--that have lived and learned.
Even reporters and researchers are entitled to their viewpoints and opinions. Get a clue Shannon K. Teachers need to STOP BRAINWASHING OUR CHILDREN AND TEACH THEM TO READ.
roseanrose:
Sure, reporters and "researchers" are entitled to their viewpoints and opinions, but not when they are presented as fact with absolutely nothing to back them up.
Teachers are doing a fine job considering what they have to work with. Why don't you focus on the parents who haven't done a thing with their kids, things like reading and talking to them daily. I'll guarantee you that the kids whose parents do that aren't the ones who are failing in the schools. I'm also willing to bet that teachers' own children don't have major problems in school with reading, either. Ask yourself why that is. My kindergartner can read at a second grade level. I'm the one who taught her, yet I had plenty of students in my first, second, and third grade classes who struggled with reading. It's not because I was a crappy teacher, obviously, since my own kid can read above grade level. Quit bashing teachers and get to the actual root of the problem.
The racist comments never end do they Birdie?
here's a hint to the pop quiz boys and girls...
do right wing teabagger nutjobs believe in quotas???
boy i have to tell you...
the brain sandoval - clarence thomas comparisons are striking...
striking indeed...
somebody at the sun needs to shine some light on this...
just make sure you give birdie an honorable mention...
you are welcome...
by the way...
when was the last time anybody heard clarence thomas speak???
I don't call what NPRI or what Gibbons does research. It is advocacy. They have a view and they try to support it with someone else's research. They start with a conclusion and work their way back. It is no different than fixing the outcome of a game.
They can advocate all they want in a free society, but what they do is not research.
As for the Sun, it is what it is.
No Turrialba,
He stated so his own self back a year or so ago. I happen to be a geezer - incoherent, incompetent and incontinent - but I DO recall some things as clear as a bell. His early departure is one thing that stuck in my craw.
If one had the time and inclination, it's all there in the Sun's records to see.
Joe:
Thank for clearing that up. I had to ask. It is too funny.
T.
Ya know, I hate to pick on poor Patrick, but another thing that aggravated me more than once was his frequent invitation for others to read his masters thesis.
He even emailed me about it and I recall more than once his comment about how it was a 'good read' to me and to other unsuspecting posters on this very rag.
Talk about a guy whose universe seems a construct of his obviously fabulous character, a fellow whose outlook and research techniques are the result of payoffs and contracts, not truth or any related item.
Whimsy and self-aggrandizement drive the guy to promote his antics and 'research' like dogs go to bones.
His toothy picture on the Western Wrangler reminds me of Jared, from Subway fame. LOL "I lost xx pounds eating FResh!"
I believe that we need to address education; However, how is more money going to make our system better? I believe there is a lot of waste and bloated salaries. There's a lot of classes students are required to take that are pointless for a persons degree. That guarentees a job for a teacher teachers who teach worthless clases are now going to have to justify their job. We do need to invest in our future, but we need to invest smart. Giving more money to an institution that is turning out the worst students in the country, we need to get rid of the people teaching. Now the teachers can blame the parents too, but your paid to teach. Teach them.
Here are some contributors to John Ensign from the last half of 2010, when he totaled more than $120,000:
The Adelson family (Sands) $26,000
Steve Wynn/Andrea Hissom (Wynn) $20,000
Tony Alamo (Mandalay) $10,000
Bill Richardson (Mandalay) $10,000
Terry Lanni (ex-MGM CEO) $10,000
The Burning Tree Trust (J. Bergman, Mike Ensign neighbor) $10,000
Yasmin, Oren Lukatz (Sands) $8,000
Randell Roberts (Mandalay) $5,000
Marc Schorr (Wynn) $5,000
Duncan Lee (bizman) $3,000
Tim Cashman (chamber) $1,000
Ex-Rep. Barbara Vucanovich $1,000
Peter Simon (Mandalay) $1,000
Now you know why there are so many TAX BREAKS for the wealthy...and it costs them so little to get attention.
Joe:
Yeah, milksop is the term that comes to mind. I don't even bother opening the emails he sends via the Sun.
here's another hint to today's pop quiz boys and girls...
has clarence thomas' appointment to the supreme court been a net positive or negative for minorities???
hmmm???
do you think that george bush and the republican powers that be at that time foresaw that before they nominated him???
hmmm???
do you think that george bush and the republican powers that be at that time gave any thought to the color of mr thomas' skin before they nominated him???
hmmm???
and finally...
how many years has it been since clarence thomas has even asked a question during a supreme court case???
are you ready for this...
5...
the man has not even asked a question in 5 years...
wow wee...
so i ask you once again...
what do brian sandoval and clarence thomas have in common???
Lamy you are incredibly lazy. You need to attack the facts, not the person.
Turrialba, the facts are what they are. I'm not working backwards here. I see the facts and I'm reporting them. What do you disagree with?
As for my K-12 experience I worked 1 semester as an actual history teacher for $9.25 an hour because I was not state certified. I did my own lesson plans, stayed after school to help students (was not paid for that) did parent teacher conferences after school (no pay for that either). At the end of the semester they found someone who had a certification and moved me to special education where No Child Left Behind requirements and state certification requirements were less stringent.
My students signed a petition to keep me but the school district's hands were tied by strict certification rules. The state's alternative certification program was 2 years long, I opted not to waste my time.
I did special education for the last semester of the year and moved on to work toward a PhD.
Note, the person who replaced me as a history teacher was later convicted of possessing child pornography. Way to go state certification process!
Unger, the cut is less than 8 percent. You're trying to ignore 80 percent of the budget. See the Cobb oped today, he claims the cuts will hurt portions of the budget you wanted to ignore yesterday.
I agree with you Anthony. We have to overhaul. Time to target the limited resources in limited areas all through the system. K-12 fundamentals--remember those and a limited focus on the majors at the university and college levels.
@NewYork - I wouldn't be so quick to agree to having taxes doubled - that won't solve the problem of government speding money in all the wrong places. The answer to a shortfall should NOT be 'raise taxes'... the answer needs to be 'trim the fat first'. Taxes are already breaking the backs of many lower middle class / working poor.... I'm tired of the government just taking more of my paycheck simply because they can't do THEIR job right. Taxing me more is NOT the answer - maybe the Governor needs to give up his 'Mansion' and go live in a house on his own fricken dime the same way we do.... I'm tired of paying for him and the President to live high off the hog on my dime - they're the ones with the big bucks so let them pay for their own 'stuff'
Sebring,
Spending is not related to student proficiency. I took that blog post you cited to task and showed how they manipulated their charts and failed to do the most basic regression which proved there was not a statistically significant difference in student proficiency rates due to higher per-pupil spending.
You can read more here: http://www.thewesternwrangler.com/2011/0...
Most of you people need to learn to attack the facts, not the person. If you can't do that then you aren't civil enough or intellectually competent enough to engage in public debate.
hey gibbie...
are you sure you got the definition of "wrangle" correct???
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar...
LOL, good one, Patrick. People on this site have continually taken you to task regarding your "facts" and have proven them wrong. You've claimed you are an expert and get upset when people call you on your actual expertise. Those are the facts, Patrick.
Another racist comment by Birdie against people of Hispanic origin.
Birdie so much hate, fear, and ignorance.
Get over it jack. People like you are weak and losers.
Now don't cry.
You heard the story. There are three people. The Billionaire, The Tea Party Activist and the Union Worker at a Table. There are 12 cookies of which the Billionaire takes 11 and then whispers to the Tea Party Activist " You better look out the Union Worker is going to get Yours". Its time for a fairer distribution of The Cookies and realizing The Billionaire is using infighting to take everything.
ShannonK, stop pretending to have a brain or common sense. You don't DISCLOSE that your are PAID TO TEACH but can't teach our children to read. Yes, I figured out how to read BEFORE grade school even though I grew up around several foreign languages of first-generation Americans--although my mixed blood has roots in the continent.You whine and cry and demand pay raises when you can't be effective in the classroom. You cry about the illegal language issues and a big class size of 20 students. GET A DIFFERENT JOB since you're not an effective teacher.
Patrick,
A few days ago you said the "true" cut was less than 5%, today that it is around 8%. What will it be tomorrow? I really wanted to believe that you were correct, but you have lost credibility on this issue.
Did UNLV overspend on new buildings for non-academic student services? I can't say, but presumably they believed that a better student experience would increase retention rates. But should we destroy UNLV because of bad decisions made in the past made by a different leadership?
roseanrose: I'm not a teacher any more...been out of the classroom for six years and won't be going back. I got tired of dealing with whiners like you who dropped their kid off expecting me to teach them manners and how to read, write, and do math, and didn't do anything to see that their kid did their homework or else did their homework for them, didn't read to them, didn't make sure they got enough sleep at night, etc. My students had the highest test scores in my school for the grade I was teaching and over half my students were ESL. Too bad for the students in this city...CCSD lost another good teacher, and I'll just ensure that my own kids get the benefit of my expertise.
here's another hint to today's pop quiz boys and girls...
when george bush and the other republican powers that be at that time get together and reminisce about the good old days...
do you think they actually physically hurt themselves giving each other high fives when the topic of clarence thomas comes up...
i mean do you think they actually physically get out of their chairs and jump as high as their old bodies will let them and slap hands together as hard as they possibly can...
before they fall back to their chairs in utter glee...
over their nomination of clarence thomas to the supreme court...
i mean seriously...
this guy has never altered from the republican party line...
never...
he has followed rehnquist's and scalia's lead like a little puppy dog...
and hell...
he has not even asked a damn question in 5 years...
holy crap...
do you think they can possibly contain their joy...
hmmm...
so i ask you once again...
what do brian sandoval and clarence thomas have in common???
Patrick:
Let's face it when someone represents themselves as an expert in a particular field, your credentials are at issue. You have represented yourself as an expert in education and used your credentials (see website when at NPRI)and Western Wrangler to justify this and with arrogance. Indeed you earn a living telling people what is wrong with education, quoting other peoples' studies. It has to do with the credibility of the sources of information. You complain about the so-called "intellectual honesty" of some folks on this site. You are not in a position to do so. This isn't nice, but it is fair game.
For most of us who read and post, we do not assert to be experts, only citizens who care about education to get mad about it and try to make it better. You can strive to achieve this.
Patrick--stop sending stuff to my email. I don't read it. If you have something to say, say it here.
nevadaappleslices: shame on YOU for trying to make out students as robbing from needy/abused children. That is a disgusting accusation.
FYI everyone: there is no higher ed faculty union and also no pension fund to raid. Higher ed pensions are completely privatized.
Should taxes for education come from those who are struggling in this economy? Only if you believe the nonsensical talking point that a progressive tax is "class warfare."
here's another hint to today's quiz boys and girls...
do you think current republican power's that be look at brian sandoval the same way george bush and past republican powers that be looked at clarence thomas???
hmmm???
Turri I've never misrepresented myself, someone was just trying to make a big deal out of nothing as a red herring from the points I brought up...I also cut and pasted what I posted above and sent to you just in case you never made your way back here. I wanted to make sure you saw what I wrote since you're making a big deal about something I've been upfront and honest about since day 1.
That said, if you have any problems with the points I bring up address your concerns about them with me.
Manny K,
The UNLV official claimed the cut to UNLV was $47 million that would be around 4 percent of biennium spending (almost $1.1 billion).
The official figures right now are general fund + lost ARRA which amounts to $258 million for NSHE as a whole. That is 7.4 percent of current spending (around $3.4 billion).
To sum up, on one I was referring to just UNLV and on another it was system wide.
Birdie I almost always skip your posts but here:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wrangle...
Wrangle - to win or obtain by argument. So no I did not get the wrong definition.
I decided to go with Wrangler (noun) to play on argumentation and the fact that I own a Jeep Wrangler (note the pics)...
slick greasy slimy big toothed phony smiling huckster brian sandoval...
a right wing tea-bagger nut job...
who fights for the top 2%...
who fights to protect mining...
who fights to gut public education...
who fights to tighten immigration policies...
to the vast majority of our hispanic friends...
hate to break it to you...
but brian sandoval ain't your friend...
brian sandoval is nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing...
brian sandoval is a TOTAL AND COMPLETE FRAUD!!!
hey turr and fumi...
thank you for giving me the motivation to brilliantly explain myself in much greater detail...
you clowns keep lobbing them over the middle...
and i'll keep knocking them out of the park...
hee hee hee...
all done for today...
see you back here tomorrow...
and rest assured my friends...
i will bring the big lumber once again...
toodles...
hey gibbie...
never heard of the free dictionary...
merriam webster is the gold standard my friend...
even agreeing on simple definitions is difficult with you...
good luck buddy...
Cognastics you are spot on. The high school teachers who are telling kids to go to college should be warning them about student loan debt--and telling them maybe they DON'T want to go to college. Now even getting into debt to become a doctor may be a bad idea, as this well-publicized horror story will demonstrate:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...
I'd like to know where concerned parents were while their kids were ringing up nearly a TRILLION dollars in toxic student loan debt. This debt will be a drag on the economy forever.
Patrick,
"Definition of Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures."
If you really believe that loving moms and dads, concerned grandparents and helpful neighbors and friends can't make a difference in Junior's life, why even bother with school at all?
Success comes from the inside out with kids; the schools fail because there is no home life, no focus on the person inside and the kid is not important. Blaming the school is the lazy way out of the light; the fire is inside the kid, or the kid flops around and flounders and has little connection to this world.
I am not blaming parents; I am merely describing the process of how kids' lives go bad. Some of my kids had no parents; one of my favorite kids was 16 with three kids of her own. And though couch-surfers, 100% of them passed the state Writing Proficiency Exam.
Know why? Some idiot got them to write every day, look at their powers and find the strength, many for the first time in their lives, to accept understanding, to feel their core, to know they knew. The best schools NEVER get 100% pass rate on ANYTHING. Every single kid learned to say what was inside, to get it out and to feel good about saying it. Match that, and raise me one, hot shot statistical genius!
this all just disgusts me. If you don't think education is important, you're fooling yourself. If you don't think tuition needs to be raised, you're fooling yourself. If you think the rich conservatives care about anything other than making sure they stay as rich as possible, you're fooling yourself.
And again Patrick Gibbons,
please do NOT send me emails. If you've something to say to me, do it here. Thanks.
Joe Lamy, geezer, goon and golfer gone goofy for gorgonzola and Bartlett pears.
Core the pear, pack the hole with bleu or gorgonzola, then slice off half inch slices. The slices are like little cross-sections of a cell (Biology) with the bluish cheese (nucleus) in the center and greenish pear (cytoplasm) around the nucleus surrounded by a membrane. A good experiment for teaching cell parts to kiddos just about at the end of 3rd period...LOL They remember what they slurp!
So Jamy Lamy and Turiabla are the same person?
Joe, please lay off the platitudes and deal with the facts. Please, also try to read for comprehension, often you follow up with statements that don't address anything I've said.
As I pointed out before, the research shows that kids receiving a voucher outperform those kids who randomly did not receive a voucher and stayed behind in the traditional public schools. This suggests something other than parental involvement is going on with education. AND YES, these kids were poor kids randomly assigned to vouchers.
Yes, parents can play a role, but so can good teachers. In fact putting a low-income minority kid in with a top tier teacher 3 years in a row can almost eliminate the rich-poor achievement gap. Good teachers matter ALOT! regardless of what goes on in the home.
And frankly I'm tired of people blaming parents when they don't give parents a choice of where and how their child is even educated. That just isn't fair.
Pat the Propagandist...
The very definition fits you to a P.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar...
Are Patrick and Birdie the same person?
Patrick,
with your negligible experience in schools and extremely limited experience in this world, it's easy to understand how your perspective can be easily distorted to believe what you espouse - that mom and dad are not really the teachers, that grandma, uncle Pat and the friendly smart guy who lives down the street may have a significant impact on the child inside.
After many decades of life in a multitude of fields, it occurs to me that your lust for put-downs of others who actually have the experience that would have fed you what you are begging to have is merely an 'understanding envy' - you crave an acceptance of your thoughts. Your statistical games reinforce your jacket of isolation.
Did your folks deny you gratitude?? Appreciation?? Respect??
Then you've no way to even begin to comprehend what REAL teachers do - feed the hungry little things that have zero self-image and try like the devil to cover it all up so people can not see their naked worthlessness.
PRG "And frankly I'm tired of people blaming parents when they don't give parents a choice of where and how their child is even educated. That just isn't fair."
It starts in the heart of mom and dad, Gibby.
When that fails, the schools are a pitifully inadequate substitute, but some like Nancy Agustin, have the insight and stamina to find their soft spots and clue them in to becoming, to warming up and finding SOMETHING worthy in their souls to be proud of.
Life AIN'T fair, Pat. I happened to have been born on a dirt floor to loving parents in a different world. Had it been left to public schools to raise me without input from folks, family and friends, I'd have been convicted of doing what I thought was the best I could do.
Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions. Fair?? LMAO
Patrick Gibbons said, "This suggests something other than parental involvement is going on with education."
No, Patrick, it doesn't. Those parents fought to get their kids in to a school that would accept the vouchers, meaning they actually were participating in their children's education. Charter schools don't have to put up with nonsense from parents and students. Additionally, the high performing charter schools (which aren't as many as you'd like us to think) don't educate students for less. I'll ask again...please tell us which schools in this city will accept a voucher (at the amount batted around of $5,000 or so) as payment in full for the education of a student.
Patrick Gibbons said, "And frankly I'm tired of people blaming parents when they don't give parents a choice of where and how their child is even educated. That just isn't fair."
The CCSD every year provides an option for parents to move their children out of low performing schools into higher performing schools. Only a handful take advantage of it every year.
Patrick the milksop.
Can we STOP OVER FUNDING K-16. We pay twice as much as all of Europe for K-12. And we don't get much of anything while Europe gets GRADUATES WHO CAN READ AND WRITE--and earn a living without crying for handouts.
roseanrose: That's quite the fantasy world you are living in. I've asked you to back up your ridiculous assertions before and have yet to see any links from you.
roseanrose,
it seems you're kinda stuck on discarding the futures of kids you haven't met yet, American kids whose folks have abandoned them also.
Without a literate society, any democracy will soon be a push-over for the rich kids whose goal might be domination and control, not unlike slavery by intellectual and financial domination.
Our school kids in Singapore, Korea, Japan, China and Europe spend lots more energy and time in studies and in projects that develop their self-esteem and sense of how things work. American kids spend way more time playing games. The net result is lazy and relatively uninspired young adults here who depend on toys like Gibby depends on fake research to staunch the point of view he espouses (for $$!)
This is as unsustainable as an oil-fueled economy when the oil belongs to folks that don't like us much while we actually are bombarded by so much free and abundant resource that we reject its potential out-of-hand as a problem.
When we develop our resources (kids, sunlight, wind) that ARE the future, we can move ahead. Until we respect the heritage and shoulder the responsibility to manage these gifts, we are basically doomed, as you seem to feel.
Go to schools and volunteer until you see the bigger picture. It might help you escape what seems a tight little universe surrounding your perspective. Watch kids catch fire from seeing how things are.
Actually cuts to Post-Secondary education would actually benefit these students. If they actually learned anything in school. "Economic 101". Less revenue for these institutions (UNLV & UNR) would force the school to lower tuition rates . The lower tuition rates would drive up attendance, giving more people the financial means to pay for their education.
Plus there are a lot of fields that could be drastically cut down in size at these institutions; e.g. most Liberal Arts and Business degrees. Liberal Arts degrees are basically worthless in the real world and Business degrees are usefulness is comparable, you can obtain business acumen through experience.
The paradigm shift really needs to take place. The trade skills are the future, learn a craft, be able to produce something.
Good post, M4A3,
We need folks to fix what generations have screwed up - better houses, better energy systems, better transportation plans, and wiser culture.
Building Performance Institute tries to train carpenters, electricians, plumbers etc to approach housing shortfalls with science - blower doors, duct blasters and infra-red thermography. Then given some cool materials and proven techniques, the building scientists improve what was bad and POOF a whole new life for the home and WAAY lower bills, gobs more comfort, longevity etc. Our country is desperate for these retrofits done right.
In the transportation sector, a whole new world is growing to produce lightweight, low-impact vehicles - electric bikes that go 30 -50 miles per charge; electric cars that can handle more family and supplies.
Then there's the charging stations - currently working with manufacturers to implement tracking collectors together w/ wind systems to charge lithium-ion batteries made here to handle the electric cars, bikes etc with no impact of transportation on the grid as it is. Many local companies are in it to win it, this energy independence thing. Sorry Clyde, the Glide. I stole yer line.
Your post is right on; we need better doers and shakers, makers and fixers because it takes time and expertise, will pay well and will stimulate our kids to think and do, not bitch and moan.
We have too many Patricks and not near enough M4A3s, in mho.
roseanroseannadanna...
Your TeaNut logic never ceases to amuse.
Sharron Angle must be very special in your world.