No Memorial Break for Nevada Budget Battle
Friday, May 25, 2007
Nevada lawmakers are expected to continue through the long holiday weekend with closed-door budget talks. Governor Gibbons has threatened to veto any budget that does not include tax cuts and other priorities, but Nevada State Education president Terry Hickman says the governor's current tactics don't square with his campaign pledge to make education his top priority.
"We have a Governor who runs on an education first initiative, and yet his final priorities are cutting taxes that could provide additional support for the very thing he ran on; education."
While the budget negotiations are ocurring in private, Hickman says it's clear from the Governor's statements that he has not funded the $60 million needed to pay for teacher retirement. Hickman says those retirement programs have been a major factor in encouraging teachers to relocate to the Silver State.
"It is really important to us to keep this incentive program that includes the promise it will continue. Certainly it can be changed some, but you can't take the money away and say 'I'm for education.' That's rhetoric. We've had enough of that.
With a June 4th budget deadline looming, Hickman says the impasse may jeapardize the start of fall classes.
A major point of contention is how much money should be allocated for all-day kindergarten versus Governor Gibbons' "empowerment schools" plan. Hickman says all-day kindergarten has a proven track record of producing positive results.
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