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Governor plans 5 percent cut in allocation for public schools and higher education
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CARSON CITY -- While Gov. Brian Sandoval doesn't recommend cutting school teacher and college professor salaries, key members of his administration said Thursday he intends to reduce what the state spends on public schools and higher education by 5 percent.
That leaves it up to school district trustees and the Board of Regents to decide whether to cut employee salaries or find other sources of revenue to prevent wage reductions.
The 5 percent reductions, including those that have been proposed for state workers, and the elimination of longevity and merit pay will save the state $591 million over the next two years, said Heidi Gansert, Sandoval's chief of staff.
In a news conference, Gansert said school districts need to take into account the possible funding reduction as they negotiate contracts with school employee unions.
"They are probably in (collective bargaining) negotiations now," said Gansert, former Assembly minority leader. "It is going to be up to the schools and their negotiators."
Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said Thursday she figured the Sandoval administration would come up with something that at least indirectly would affect teacher pay. She said she has been hearing Sandoval expects to make a $500 million reduction in school spending.
Sandoval aides told the Review-Journal on Wednesday night that the governor was not proposing teachers take a 5 percent pay cut, but it now is clear that the governor is leaving that choice to local school boards.
In a letter to state employees Wednesday, the governor said he wants them to take a 5 percent wage cut and end the one-day-per-month furloughs they have been taking since July 2009.
Warne noted that the newspaper Education Week, in a current survey, ranked Nevada fourth from the bottom in public school funding and at the bottom in students' chance for success.
"We need an honest conversation on how to develop quality education in this state that involves revenue," Warne said. "Unfortunately the failed mantra of 'no new taxes' is what this governor is proposing."
The National Education Association in 2008 put average Nevada teacher pay at $44,426 a year. Based on that figure, the average teacher would receive $2,221 less a year.
Clark County School Board President Carolyn Edwards was unclear how the governor's proposal would affect schools, saying a 5 percent cut in total funding might entail more than just reducing school employees' salaries by 5 percent.
"We need to see the whole picture," Edwards said.
"Cutting education is not the way to go," said Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents local teachers.
Murillo said Sandoval at least should consider "revenue enhancements," such as increases to taxes and fees.
The cuts Sandoval proposes will not go into effect unless approved by both Democrat-controlled houses of the Legislature.
Gov. Jim Gibbons proposed a 6 percent pay cut for state workers two years ago. Instead, legislators passed a law requiring most employees to take a monthly furlough day, cutting payroll costs by 4.6 percent.
Assembly Speaker-elect John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, didn't take a position Thursday on the salary reductions.
"Once we have the governor's budget in its entirety, we will be able to better assess the 5 percent payroll cut proposed by the governor, but this will be painful for state workers and their families, and we need to keep in mind that they have already taken deep cuts," Oceguera said in a statement.
Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, said Wednesday evening he would not support cuts in teacher pay.
Schneider called Nevada "the cheapest state." He said one of the primary reasons why businesses do not locate here is the lack of a quality education system.
Dale Erquiaga, Sandoval's chief adviser, said Thursday there has been a "mixed bag" reaction from state workers since the governor announced he wants to end furloughs and cut state employee pay.
Erquiaga said some employees think that the Sandoval plan is unfair and that they should be given time off if they are going to work for less pay. But others accept it as a natural response by the governor to deal with declining state revenue.
Gansert said it is almost impossible to keep up with work at agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles with employees off on furloughs.
Ending furloughs will bring better service to the public, she said.
Gansert would not disclose additional details about what the governor will propose in his State of the State message and the two-year budget he will release to the Legislature on Jan. 24.
But she said the payroll reduction figure of $591 million is built into the budget.
Some of the cuts proposed by Gibbons before he left office Jan. 3 also are in the Sandoval budget. Gibbons requested state agencies come up with ways to reduce their spending by 10 percent.
Those cuts added up to $819 million. They included reducing basic support for public schools and full-day kindergarten programs, ending a senior citizen property tax rebate program, reducing funding for mental health services and no longer providing dentures for people receiving Medicaid, the free health care program for the poor, blind and disabled.
Sandoval has said that he will veto any tax increase and that his budget will be based entirely on the $5.33 billion in revenue forecast for the state over the next two-year budget period. Current state spending is $6.4 billion.
Gansert refused to say whether Sandoval's budget has been balanced with the cuts initially proposed by Gibbons and the pay reductions sought by the new governor.
Erquiaga said Sandoval probably will not close four state museums and historical societies as has been reported by other media. The Lost City Museum in Overton is one of the four facilities that had been mentioned as closing.
Erquiaga, who headed state museums for a time under Gov. Kenny Guinn, said museums and historical societies have been hit harder during the recession than other state agencies and should not be forced to cut more.
Erquiaga announced that Sandoval plans to seek a constitutional amendment to allow the state to give vouchers to parents who send their children to parochial schools. Through vouchers, parents would receive state money to pay the private, charter or parochial schools that their children attend.
Erquiaga said this change is part of the governor's "parental choice" plan to let parents decide how best to provide a quality education for their children.
Sandoval is a product of Catholic schools in Reno, and his oldest child is attending a Catholic high school.
In his State of the State message, the governor will talk about collective bargaining. But unlike Gibbons, Sandoval does not want to eliminate collective bargaining, Erquiaga said.
Gibbons drew up nine bills for consideration by the Legislature, and Erquiaga said people should "not assume" Sandoval supports any of them.
Reporter Jim Haug contributed to this report. Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.
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I have a question for those interested--what would you do to implement "education reform"?
What is the single most important thing we should change that would improve the educational system?
Usually people say one of two things, each answer reveals a lot about our national divide.
Once again, government fails to understand the problems in education. Cutting funding to public education and then turning around and offering vouchers to private schools is just robbing Peter to pay Paul. I know many teachers and administrators in the Clark County School District. They say that all day Kindergarten has made a huge difference in literacy rates. Then, our governor and legislators, in all of their wisdom look at cutting the one thing that works! They say teachers are the problem. I dare any of these legislators to walk into any classroom at any grade level and watch a teacher in action. Most do an excellent job of classroom management in overcrowded classrooms and work very hard to provide their students with the tools they need to succeed academically. Private schools have the option to kick out underachievers and troublemakers. Public schools do not. And try this one,state legislators implemented a law that State Tests in elementary schools are taken by the beginning of MARCH, several months before the end of the year. Where is the wisdom in that? Students & teachers do not get the necessary time alloted to them before students have to take a statewide grade level test. And then legislators wonder why our Nevada students perform poorly compared to other states. Wake up Governor Sandoval and have a real conversation with the people in the trenches....the educators/teachers!
If you truly believe that education is "the key to the future" then you should demand that we abolish *public* education. That institution is the key to the football locker room, the jail cell, the drug deal, the gang initiation, the illiterate class, the abortion clinic, and so forth.
Probably not the future you're romanticizing about.
I don't know this for a fact, but this may a vendetta against education and...the world. * * * This 5% keeps coming out of his mouth and on memorandum coming out of this office bubble...uh, you know, that guy, someone voted into office...that guy, who ran with no clear agenda, just a smile of denial. * * * Anyway, maybe someone could check this man's school records for his last test score in Math (I'm thinking it was 5%). It would explain this 5% phenomenon. * * * AND...we could be thankful that his score wasn't higher.
@VIRGIL Great points
and don't forget, whatever new funding you give a bureaucracy will never get reduced. people think the more money spent on education, the higher the quality. that is a MYTH, look at the bloated public educational systems on the east coast....our kids are just as dumb as they are, and we pay millions less.
teachers teach the kids, not administrators. pay them well and you'll attract higher quality teachers. people forget in 2005-2006 then county was hiring foreign teachers that didnt speak english because we were so short.
this is not cutting EDUCATION, this is reducing the budgets for new COMPUTERS, VEHICLES, CHERRY WOOD FURNITURE, OFFICE CHAIRS, LANDSCAPING, MAINTENANCE GUYS, PAINT, ETC.
watch these high level administrators scurry around like rats trying to save their "important" jobs and lifestyles. i just hate when people scream about quality of education when schools have such a top heavy administrative budget.
the economic decisions are left to the managers, make them accountable.
To anyone in teaching or contemplating a future career in teaching in this state stop and take a look at the atmosphere of this most important profession. If you remain in or plan to enter teacing remember you will not be rewarded for the teacher you can be; in fact you will be demonized as lazy, underworked, overpaid and of little value to society by many, many people. Teaching is already a dead end lackluster profession in this state where chances for professional improvement and creativity rarely exist today. Your best bet is to get out and find another career that will reward you financially for your efforts and talents. No one really cares about you as a teacher and the fact that in today's school systems you cannot teach as you desire or were trained to do; the rules, policies and dictates of brainless administrators overrule you at every turn and chance. Parents and students are the first to attack you for your grading standards, the quantity of homework you may assign, projects you may require, your attendance/tardiness record keeping accuracy, our policies requirng student discipline and attention, etc.,etc. The attacks are never ending and the support from your school administrators and district trustees are empty and shallow efforts always favorable to parents and students, but not the teacher. To stay in teaching today is like trying to ride as a jocky on a dead horse; whip it all you want but nothing will happen!
Governor Sandoval knows all too well that a sound education system is essential to the welfare of this state and its future. He also knows that science and technology in the 21st century are and will be of utmost importance. How can teachers prepare students for fields like medicine, computers, technology, engineering, and other science courses without adequate materials to work with? How can a biology teacher teach the subject without the support of supplemental and consumable supplies? How do students learn to use a microscope if none ar available? How can a chemistry teacher teach the stubject without adequate equipment and consumable materials? How does a computer instructor teach that field without adequate and functgional computers available? At all levels of education of students from K-12 on to colleges and university in our state will continue to suffer greatly for lack of adequate resources. Will dental and medical school students have to buy their own resources in order to complete their education? Sandoval has not given one statement with regard to eliminating the vast invasions of illegals from south of our borders has he? Sandoval's child is attending a private Catholic school which of course means his child will not be faced with lack of textbooks, paper, resource materials and other deficiencies that your children will in the future. He doesn't really care about your children, his are taken care of in terms of their education. A convenient move on his part!
"No new taxes" the clarion call we have heard for the past 4 years from Jim Gibbons and now Brian Sandoval may be the final death knell for all of Nevada Public Education. Passing the 5% budget reduction to the school boards to make a deciions as to whether to cut teacher salaries dos nothing but take the heat of such a move from the governors office to the school trustees of this state. That is a political cowards move of passing the buck to others and shows that Sandoval has no real political guts. He evidently doesn't have the thick skin to stand criticism and scrutiny if he cut teacheres salaries directly. Governor Sandoval does not have the courage to take a real step of leadership and insist on a deep 50% cut in all administrators from the highest district level to the building level. That is where the bulk of money has gone in the CCSD but he could not possibly cut those jobs now could he?