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Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 | 6 p.m.
Despite the anti-tax votes in Tuesday's election, the state teachers union is optimistic the 2013 Legislature will approve its plan for a business tax to support public schools.
It has more than 100,000 signatures of voters on its initiative petition and they will be presented Tuesday to the counties for verification of the names, says Nick Di Archangel, director of communications for the Nevada State Education Association.
Di Archangel says he thinks the petition has a good chance of gaining legislative approval.
The law requires 72,352 signatures on the initiative to be filed by the Tuesday deadline. And there must be 18,008 signatures in each of the four congressional districts.
At the same time, the Nevada Supreme Court has decided to speed up an appeal by the union over a ruling by a lower court that the petition is invalid.
The Supreme Court Wednesday filed an order that it will hear oral arguments on the first available date and all seven justices will be sitting on the case. The court said it will not be necessary for the union and its opponent, Committee to Protect Nevada Jobs, to file briefs, a normal procedure.
The court, in expediting the process, will examine the record in the case before Carson City District Judge James Wilson, who ruled the petition was faulty, misleading and could not be presented to the Legislature.
The initiative would impose a 2 percent margins tax on businesses with more than an annual income of $1 million. It is expected to raise $800 million a year to go toward funding the public schools.
The teachers union lost a key legislative ally with the defeat of Sheila Leslie in her run for the Senate in Washoe County. Leslie, who served in both the Assembly and Senate, supported the tax plan.
Gary Peck, executive director of the teachers union, said Leslie will be missed but this is not an issue for a single legislator.
Voters in Clark County rejected by a 66-34 percent margin a plan to raise the property tax to repair and build new schools. And tax increase initiatives in several other counties were voted down in the Tuesday election.
Peck says the union's tax plan is different from those on the ballots and has "substantially more than 100,000 signatures showing the breadth and depth of public support."
If the Supreme Court rules that the Education Initiative petition is valid it will be presented to the Legislature, which has 40 days to act on it. Peck said his association is talking to lawmakers and he is "optimistic we will gather the support needed."
If it fails to pass in the Legislature, it will go on the 2014 election ballot, and Peck says he is "very confident of public support."
Gov. Brian Sandoval and a number of legislators say funding education is a top priority, but preliminary figures show that while the economy is slowly recovering, there is not enough tax revenue for a major allocation to education.
Is there no end in sight for the unquenchable appetite for other people's money. Isn't it bad enoght that teachers work only 6 hours a day for only 9 months but requires ANNUAL salaries higher than average.
And on that note, as long as firefighter make an average of 178k a year for 10 days a month, there is enough money in the public coffers to balance the public needs through better appropriations of the money they have.
But there is enough money for major allocations of future revenue to Apple...
Anyone really want to role the dice and bet that the NSEA & CCSD will do better with more money? They haven't so far.
Sandoval should try to work with Reid & Obama in DC to get a per capita share of the Federal education budget as a block grant, combine that with State funding, and spend it as a full ride student scholarship good at any public, private or charter school within the state for ages 5-19. Let CCSD compete with parochial/Catholic schools who'll compete with charters. That's the only way we're ever going to see better results out of our educational system -- using competitive pressure to put student achievement as their top priority. Most individual teachers try, but they are trapped in a system with a bureacracy that inevitably puts bureacratic interests ahead of results (that's just what bureacracies do).
Teachers and administrators can stop their sales jobs on the voters. CCSD needs to get down to educating our kids to read and write. We need many more graduates at $1,000 per student, per year less, like Arizona--but Arizona gets graduates. $1,000 per kid times 330,000 students is $330,000,000 or 330 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR WASTED. If they're so smart, why can't they figure out cost efficient means?
@NLV-Indep13. Would you also require charter schools and parochial/Catholic schools and private schools to accept ALL students, including those with special needs, English language learners, etc. Unless you do that, you will find that most of those schools won't take voucher money. They currently pick and choose and only accept students who will not be a "problem" for the school. If a student is a "problem" for a non-public school, they are removed from the school. Public schools MUST take all students who show up at the door.
@Roslenda, which of the 200 Arizona school districts are you comparing to CCSD? How many school districts in Arizona are the same size as CCSD. Please cite your sources for your grad rate statistics. I can't find any data that supports your claim. I do my own research, do you? What are your comments about my posts on the 280 MILLION plus spent on administrators in CCSD? What are your comments on my posts about the number of Directors, Coordinators, and Academic managers compared to school administrators? You know the ones where I talk about being able to replace every high school administrator, as well as middle school assistant principals and deans?
Any tax plan needs careful examination and weighing before voting on the issue. The little guy American and Nevadan has been suffering from the economic disaster of 2008, still trying to recover under uncertain times and shifting political alliances. As a citizen, taxpayer, voter, AND teacher, I am extremely cautious about any tax bill. Please don't assume that I am in "lock-step" favor of any or all proposed educational tax plans, and automatically support them just because education is associated with them.
In the last 20 or so years, Nevada, California, and Arizona have experienced tremedous growth, even USsustainable growth, at that. Runaway building without regard to sustainable infrastructure, poor, even corrupt planning by those on the top, as County Commissioners, have left the taxpayers homeless, underemployed, and holding the financial liability bag. In some respects, I would have to agree with certain Commenters here about the irresponsible spending that has gone on, and bad thinking that supported it.
We are entering a new age of "accountability" that includes everyone, because all factors are related to the other. The ONE FACTOR that still seems to be neglected, is the one of parent accountability. How can the public, school, teacher expect a child to become proficient unless the child practices at home? How many parents truly supervise and or support (as getting their child to the library or buy their child flashcards, dictionary, even a watch) their child at home? Public schools MUST take any child that walks through the door, they cannot turn away children of low IQ, Special Needs, low income, dysfunctional families. Who picks up the slack when our public educational system has such children? The educational family at the school where these children are at!
How many readers, or Commenters, for that matter, ever visit their neighborhood school and volunteer some time? Yet, countless, thousands of teachers in Clark County, even in Nevada state, donate hundreds of hours yearly to their schools. Ask any of them, and them will say, "That there are not enough hours in the day," to do all that really needs be done. Most of these same teachers spend beyond the allowable tax deduction for educational materials yearly, so that instruction will go seamlessly and effectively.
Part 1 of 2
Blessings and Peace,
Star
As a society, we say, "It takes a village to raise a child." Often we hear that, "Time is money." When the members within the "village" are not present in a child's life, then responsibility falls upon those who directly interact with that child. Since the economic disaster of 2008, people have been having to do with less. The needs of children, our public school students, doesn't change however. These children still require a functional home that addresses food, clothing, shelter, as well as parental support for a child to practice learned skills in school in the form of schoolwork/homework. Very few children anymore, have someone to help them with with practicing with flashcards, or take them to the public library, or volunteer in their classroom or school. This lack gets made up for in the form of after-school tutoring (which has been reduced throughout the county).
The Educational Involvement Accord needs enforcement teeth. When the student and their parent/guardian/caregiver are falling short, there currently is no means to enforce this document. Sure, you can make schools and their employees responsible for their part, but currently there is ZERO consequence for those who are students or the responsible home adult of a student. That needs to be fixed.
Personally, I rather see a state-wide temporary tax on taxable consumer products to address the NEEDS of our public school system. If citizens can not or will not participate in their neighborhood community, including the schools there, then help that would be volunteered can be paid for via tax sponsored positions. Schools need community involvement on many levels to keep things in balance. Expecting educators to keep paying out of their own pockets and working hundreds of unpaid hours towards planning, training, and implementation for effective classrooms, is as bad as launching another property tax or business tax for education. Let's make it fair and place a temporary tax on consumeable items. Thank you.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
The 2011 Barrick Mining annual report is out. This is a link to the Barrick Annual Report for 2011.
http://www.barrick.com/theme/barrick/fil.........
Barrick Mining either owns outright, or is a partner in a joint venture in 7 gold mines in Nevada. To determine my estimate a profits for 2011, I assumed the price of gold at $1500 per ounce, or less. The current price for gold is in excess of $1750 per ounce. The first four mines listed are totally owned by Barrick Mining. In 2011, according to their own figures, Barrick Mining produced almost 97 TONS of gold from their Nevada Mines. That is same weight as 16 full size, original HUMMERS. Barrick Mining has reported record profits and dividends in both 2010 and 2011. Barrick paid a total of $47,300,000 in local and state taxes last year.
The Cortez Hills Mine produced 1.42 Million (44.375 tons) ounces of Gold at a cost of $245 per ounce. If you assume a conservative profit of $1000 per ounce, you get a profit for the Cortez Hill mine of $1,420,000,000.
Bald Mountain Mine produced 93,000 ounces (2.9 tons) at a cost of $558 per ounce. Assuming a profit of $900 per ounce for the Bald Mountain Mine, you get a profit of $83,700,000.
The Gold Strike mine produced 1.09 MILLION ounces (34.0625 Tons) at a cost of $511 per ounce. Again assuming a profit of $900 per ounce for the Gold Strike mine, you get a profit of $981,000,000.
Ruby Hill mine produced 127,000 ounces (3.96875 tons) at a cost of $334 per ounce. Assuming a profit of $1000 per ounce for Ruby Hill, you get a profit of $127,000,000.
Barrick Mining is involved in three joint ventures in Nevada.
Barrick owns 33% of the Marigold mine. Barrick's share of production was 51,000 ounces (1.59675 Tons) at a cost of $761 per ounce. For the Marigold mine, assume a profit of $700 per ounce. The total profit would be $35,700,000.
Barrick owns 50% of the Round Mountain mine. Barrick's share was 178,000 ounces (5.5625 Tons) at a cost of $612 per ounce. Assuming a profit of $800 per ounce for the Round Mountain mine, we get a total profit of $142,400,000.
Barrick owns 75% of the Turquoise Ridge mine which produced 135,000 ounces (4.21875 Tons) at a cost of $569 per ounce. Finally for the Turquoise Ridge mine, assume a profit of $700 per ounce. This would give a profit of $ 94,500,000.
Barrick is actively exploring in the Carlin Trace in Nevada. The Carlin Trace is one of the richest gold deposts in the world. Barrick's annual report shows that 44% of the companies income comes from North America. Don't forget that Barrick is also mining silver along with the gold in Nevada. If you add all of the projected and conservative profits, the total is $2,884,300,000.
According to sources, the Entire mining industry paid approximately $253,300,000 in state taxes on all minerals mined in Nevada. Compare this to the 425 MILLION paid in state taxes by the gaming industry.