If Green Valley HS administrators were to examine their valedictorians over the last ten years, they would see that Thurman White has produced more than Greenspun in most years.

I really would like the author of this article to explain how it is possible that higher education jobs could decline by 11.4%, but the payroll for higher education increase by $1.7 million. Every state worker I know took a pay and benefits cut - so how did payroll increase? Please explain.

As a state worker who has taken two pay cuts, experienced sixfold increases in premium costs, and had my health benefits slashed, I would like to know how state payrolls could have increased. Who is getting this money?

Some public sector employees are unionized - CCSD school teachers, firefighters, and police officers - and they have seen very little harm through this recession. Four years in, and they are debating the size of their annual pay increases.

State workers, however, are not unionized, and they have taken real and substantial hits. Although their work loads have dramatically increased, salaries have been frozen since January 2008, furloughs have cost employees an additional 4.8% cut for two years, and these cuts will be extended, under slightly different rules, for another two years, and benefits have been decimated while becoming substantially more expensive.

Whatever one thinks of budgeting in Nevada, one important element of this story is how unfairly cuts have been imposed on higher education and other state service workers, relative to all public employees.

Dear Members of the PUC -

If you insist on raising Nevada Power's profit margin and return on equity, could you please add a clause that exempts those customers who have not tried to reduce their energy usage? Energy hogs have done nothing to hurt the nice power company. Why should they have to pay for all the fools who did?

How does one file a comment with the PUC?

I am tired of things being blamed on an apathetic electorate. I have stood in my fair share of demonstrations, attended meetings, written letters, rallied my co-workers. I have watched thousands of students sacrifice real time and money to participate in the political process. And none of it has meant a damn thing. Not this session. Not last session. Not next session.

Aristotle questioned whether democracy was a model that could sustain itself. He suggested that sooner or later, power would concentrate itself into a small enough group that the votes of the masses would not really matter.

In the last 30 years, this country and this state have concentrated power into an ever richer elite. Now, those privileged powerful few are making sure that ordinary citizens pay for their mistakes. I appreciate that you are still optimistic, Jon, but I see no evidence for it.

So this is how the market solves our problems?

Lets' be honest. The rich and powerful use the government to keep themselves rich and powerful. Is that the world you want for your children?

I am a supporter of public education at all levels.

Why should K-12 get a proportionately much larger share of the windfall than higher education?

Higher education employees have already taken 5% furloughs, with another 5% in actual cuts anticipated. Higher education employees have already had substantial increases in benefit costs and substantial reductions in benefit services. Higher education employees stopped getting step increases three years ago. And even the Chamber of Commerce admits that higher education faculty are paid far less than faculty elsewhere in the country.

Governor Sandoval pays substantially to keep his children OUT of the public schools, and will not be personally affected by the sacrifices he is asking for from Nevada citizens. I suspect that after decimating the higher education system in Nevada, his children will be too special for our colleges and universities too.