No One Asked Me But…
by Dr. Larry Moses
Published January 28, 2009
No one asked me but… I have a graduate degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and worked as an educator in the State of Nevada for thirty years. Those disclosures may explain the following reaction to Governor Gibbons’ attempt to balance the budget of the State of Nevada on the back of education.
The more I hear of the Governor’s budget proposals, the more I begin to believe his turtle-neck sweaters have cut off the blood to his brain. I must admit that the issue of gutting the budget for our State University system by fifty-four percent and the six percent reduction in teacher’s salaries are the most bizarre proposals I have heard from a State executive.
I am aware of the fact that the lion’s share of the budget in the State of Nevada is dedicated to education, but I was not aware of the fact that teacher’s were State employees. When I worked for the Clark County School District and the Lyon County School District my contracts were with the local district, not the State. The Governor had no power to hire or fire me. He certainly had no say in the day to day operation of the classroom or school where I was working.
If teachers are direct employees of the State then why not save money by dissolving the local school boards and have one board to direct the entire State education system? This is the process in the State of Hawaii. However, there are presently seventeen distinct school districts in the State of Nevada and each district has a school board that negotiates salaries with teachers. The salaries agreed upon over the last two years were between the teachers and the local school boards, not the Governor or State government and are contractual agreements.
The Governor may have felt that since in recent years the State has earmarked a minimum amount of State funding that individual districts received must be set aside for salaries, the State can now dictate what the salaries of teacher’s will be. This designation of funds was the idea of the Clark County School District teacher’s union. For a number of years the CCSD received a ten percent over all increase in funding from the State and the teacher’s union, and in their ineptitude, were only able to negotiate a one or two percent raise for the teachers. The union convinced the legislature to set aside an amount that the district must use for teacher salaries. Those figures were to be a minimum, but a district could, if they so desire, and if the union could so negotiate, pay a higher figure. In some of the smaller rural district this was the case, but the CCSD always out-negotiated the union and gave the teachers the minimum. The district’s rationale was that was all the State provided for salaries. The pattern continued during the last legislature while providing a ten percent overall raise in school funding, the CCSD teachers only received the two percent first year and four percent the second year minimum increase provided by the State. That apparently is the six percent the Governor wants back.
Now I understand the Governor has every right to not place salary money in his next budget. But I do not believe he can go back and take money from the previous budget. What is really hard to understand is how the Governor believes he can get the same level of work for less salary. While some private employees are taking pay cuts, they are also cutting hours. In actuality, if the Governor cuts benefits along with the salary teachers would be seeing nearly a ten percent cut in financial benefits. Any union official worth his salt would immediately tell the Governor if he insists on a ten percent cut in salaries and benefits, he will have to live with a ten percent cut in services. The 180 days of mandatory school would then become 164 days of school.
In essence, what the Governor has done is place a six to ten percent income tax on teachers and all State employees. If you take six percent of a person’s present income that must be a tax. This definitely ruins his no new taxes pledge.
Actually teachers and State employees would be better off with a State income tax because then they could deduct it from their federal taxes. While I don’t condone it, I can understand why the Governor feels he can cut State employees salaries. I am not sure what makes him think he has the power to cut teacher salaries. He has the power, with the consent of the legislature, to cut funding to the CCSD to a point where the Board of School Trustee would chose to negotiate a cut in teacher salaries to balance their budget. I don’t, however, believe the Governor has the power to dictate to the Trustees where they must make cuts.
The Governor’s battle with Jim Rogers and the University of Nevada System has reached the level of vindictiveness. I do not believe anyone in their right mind would believe you could cut any institution’s budget by more than half and expect it to continue to operate. One begins to wonder if the Governor breathed in too many fumes from his jet.
In this battle, I will have to side with the heavy weight in the fight, Jim Rogers. Governor Gibbons is a mental, financial and power midget when compared to Mr. Rogers. This Mr. Rogers is not a sweater wearing, Bible toting, and peace loving father figure. Jim Rogers is a multi-millionaire he owns a TV station.
Is the Governor sure he wants to fight this battle? My advice to Governor Gibbons is if you want to fight this Mr. Rogers, you had better bring the big guns. However, I am not sure he has any big guns.
No one asked me but…How desperate is the State? Senator Bob Coffin is suggesting that we legalize prostitution in areas where it is now illegal and then tax it for the benefit of the State.
I am sure this will label me as a prude, but are you nuts? Bob Coffin says we all know that prostitution runs rampant in Las Vegas anyway, so why not legalize it and tax it?
This is the same argument people use for the legalization of drugs. You can’t stop the practice, so legalize it and tax it. What other crimes could we legalize and tax. How about a tax on human trafficking? We could make burglars declare the value of what they steal and collect eight percent of their illegal income. We could place an assault tax on those who wish to beat up their neighbor. How about a tax on shop lifting? It has taken the State over seventy years to bring respectability to gambling. How long would it take to do the same for prostitution?
Thought of the week…Modern cynics and skeptics see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children as smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing. -John F. Kennedy
