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High school, college students to protest state education cuts
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The state's college students are fed up and they're not going to take it anymore.
They'll deliver that message Monday to legislators in Carson City.
"This is our call to action," said Kyle George, president of UNLV's Graduate and Professional Student Association and the chairman of the Nevada Student Alliance, a coalition of student government representatives from all of the state's higher education institutions.
Students from the state's colleges and universities have seen their tuition and fees rise 75 percent in the past five years. In recent years, as state budgets have been cut, the students have supported the increases.
They won't do that anymore. Not with more cuts proposed that higher education officials say would kill dozens of degree programs, force them to lay off hundreds of employees and turn away thousands of students because there won't be any room for them.
"We will no longer support tuition and fee increases until the state takes a balanced approach to solving our budget issues," George said.
University and college presidents and other state higher education officials have said they expect tuition and fees to increase between 10 percent and 15 percent next year.
George said about 1,500 students have pledged to attend Monday's rally in Carson City, but more could show up. Several buses will pick them up at UNLV, the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College on Sunday night.
In addition, busloads of students will come from the northern Nevada community colleges and from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Leo Murrieta, president and co-founder of the Nevada Youth Coalition, said his group has also rounded up about 150 high school students who want to protest cuts to K-12 education. They'll ride buses up north, too.
The message everyone plans on delivering: Stop the cuts.
"We're looking at a 42 percent reduction in higher education spending from the state general fund," said Justin McAfee, president of the CSN Capitol Club, a nonpartisan political group at the community college. "This is just getting absurd."
The group plans on calling on legislators to seek more revenue -- tax increases -- rather than make deep cuts to education.
Gov. Brian Sandoval's proposed budget would reduce state general fund spending on higher education from $558 million this year to $395 million in 2013. College and university officials are planning on a combination of tuition and fee increases, pay cuts, layoffs, enrollment caps and program cuts to make up for the lost money.
Clark County School District officials have gone so far as to suggest they may sue the state for funding shortfalls. The district could see a cut anywhere from $250 million to $400 million.
"We can't do it without more revenue for our schools," Murrieta said.
Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal .com or 702-383-0307.
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Why do you have this forum if you're going to pick and choose what is posted?
Lawyer,
There are so many laws that govern how and what teachers may and may not say to students. The are certainly not allowe to punch them in the face or humiliate them in any way. The lawyers have seen to that. All teachers are allowed to do is ask the students to settle down. Many students live in their cars, are homeless, work late into the night and still achieve. Others come to class and put their heads down and sleep. After many attempts to wake them, they still choose to sleep. Those same students bring IPODs and listen to music during instruction, they text frineds and family and are distracted most of the time. Yes, teachers do request that all technology be put away. Most students comply for a few minutes. Most of the teachers I know work well past their contracted time, act as surrogate parents, tutor many long hours after school, are advisors of clubs (without pay), and go without lunch so students can go into a safe classroom during their lunch. Teachers and students build bonds with each other that trancends the classroom, they write letters of recommendations, help mend broken hearts and act as sounding boards when needed. They give one-on-one instruction during class and outside of class. They stay with studens after games, field trips, etc. as students wait late into the night for parents to pick them up. Teachers are exhausted and they still choose to return the next day and to it all over again. Lawyer, the administrators and teachers at Chaparral did not fail. As a lawyer, I would think you'd look at the data prior to making that assumption. If you had, you would see that Chaparral students had been making great strides toward meeting AYP. Mr. McPartlin came in when Chaparral was a very low performing school. He and the staff made amazing gains and were working very hard to improve the school yearly. Some things just take time. You absolutely do not know what you are talking about.
With Monday being the last day to squeeze in legislation, how much time have the schools reserved to speak with he legislature? Over the last few years the last day to submit ran late so I hope the students are prepared for a couple long days. Make sure you speak your mind and remember that facts don't always sway our representatives. As a matter of fact, those facts sometimes cause the opposite reaction. Our legislators aren't the best and brightest so make sure to break it down to a level they will be able to comprehend. Short, sweet and to the point! Good luck folks!
GOOGLE National Center for Education Statistics.This is not up for argument, THIS IS FACT!! FUNDING DIRECTLY IMPACTS EDUCATION. If you look at two of the worst states in education and compare them with two of the best it is very clear. New Jersey's per pupil capita is about $19,000, this is among the highest in the country. They also rank among the highest in test scores. They were not below average in any of the Standard tests. New york also ranks among the top in both categories, with a per pupil capita of around $19,000. Alabama ranks among the worst in test scores and per pupil capita. They were below average in 8 out of 8 national tests. Alabamas per pupil capita is $10,600. Nevada also tested below average in all 8 national tests, with a per pupil capita of $10,340. Look for yourself, and take the time to compare many states and you will see the relation stays pretty consistant. Stop acting like puppets and learn something for yourself. Wether you are PRO or CON the FACTS are clear. Bad funding pays for bad education, Good funding pays for good education. END OF DISCUSSION, THIS IS FACT>
What bothers me about these protests is where were they when Sandoval won by a landslide. I am a college student. The other day im sitting in class and the whole class is talking bad about Gov Sandoval. There is like 30 students, all of them acting like they didnt vote for this guy. Guaranteed half of them did. They just didnt know what they are voting for. Sandoval said exactly what he was going to do with education during his campaign. But yet all these students voted for him. People need to inform themselves before they vote for someone. He won lik 65% of the vote (just from memory, could be off) and didnt lie during his campaign. If you know who and why you vote for someone this doesnt happen. Look at Wisconsin, same thing. These people just voted and know they are mad at who they voted for. Wouldnt happen if they knew who they vote for.
GOOGLE National Center for Education Statistics.This is not up for argument, THIS IS FACT!! FUNDING DIRECTLY IMPACTS EDUCATION. If you look at two of the worst states in education and compare them with two of the best it is very clear. New Jersey's per pupil capita is about $19,000, this is among the highest in the country. They also rank among the highest in test scores. They were not below average in any of the Standard tests. New york also ranks among the top in both categories, with a per pupil capita of around $19,000. Alabama ranks among the worst in test scores and per pupil capita. They were below average in 8 out of 8 national tests. Alabamas per pupil capita is $10,600. Nevada also tested below average in all 8 national tests, with a per pupil capita of $10,340. Look for yourself, and take the time to compare many states and you will see the relation stays pretty consistant. Stop acting like puppets and learn something for yourself. Wether you are PRO or CON the FACTS are clear. Bad funding pays for bad education, Good funding pays for good education. END OF DISCUSSION, THIS IS FACT>
the CSN Capitol Club, a nonpartisan political group at the community college [is] calling on legislators to seek more revenue -- tax increases -- rather than make deep cuts to education.
Non-partisan indeed. Both DEMs and GOPs support BIG Government public education. Both parties are beholden to the special interests who leech off NSHE.
If CSN students want higher taxes to fund pure waste like President Wells' $340K salary, then let *them* be the ones paying them. "User fees" are taxes. Let's raise CSN tuition to $800/credit.
What, no takers?
The rabble always gives us some version of the following line: tax *other* people to pay for my favorite program.
are property taxes being paid by the banks on foreclosed homes ,I heard they are not if so,why not?with 100k homes that are foreclosed in the valley that would be quite a sum for our state coffers!
Let's try this again. In my 'not posted post', I pointed out that our high schools and colleges have the highest drop out rate in the nation. I proposed that the students quit crying, shut up and focus on learning and staying in school. I also pointed out that many use college as delay form leaving the home nest and simply getting to work. A lot of money is wasted on non-graduates. I'm not getting much for the educational dollars I'm taxed, why should I pay more for this poor performance?
Nevada Student Alliance, Nevada Youth Coalition..etc. Sounds like splinters of the 60's SDS all over again.