United they stand on education in Nevada

By Christina Littlefield, Emily Richmond

Monday, April 16, 2007 | 7:32 a.m.

Even as they plead for the same sparse funds, Nevada's school superintendents and the university system chancellor have arrived in Carson City this budget season arm in arm, promoting public education as a continuum from kindergarten through graduate school.

Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Jim Rogers, for instance, has lobbied on behalf of school district superintendents' prime initiative - full-day kindergarten. If students are better prepared in grade school, Rogers testified, they are more likely to attend and perform well in college.

Legislators have applauded the single voice of educators.

But as budget realities sink in, some lawmakers seem intent on getting extra money for the youngsters even if it means treating higher education like older siblings expected to fend for themselves.

Assembly leaders, including Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas; Majority Whip Sheila Leslie, D-Reno; and Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry , D-Las Vegas, have publicly indicated they want to cut higher education funding, while doing what they can to support K-12 initiatives.

Programs that are intended to help Nevada's students advance from high school to college - programs that go to the heart of the kindergarten-through-college continuum embraced by the state's education leadership - are in jeopardy.

Legislators say they support K-21, the nickname given to the concept of a seamless pipeline from kindergarten through college. Yet, the first programs put on the chopping block because of tightening state revenue are programs that would foster that philosophy. They include money for a coordinating council; money for community colleges to sponsor remedial classes; money to support science, math and technology education at the junior high and high school levels; and money for Nevada State College to produce more teachers.

If there's any gravy left in the budget, legislative leaders say , it will be shared equally between K-12 and higher education.

For now, they say they are sympathetic toward K-12 because it has been shortchanged in Gov. Jim Gibbon's recommended budget, as it has been for years.

"Seamless education is important, but at the same time K-12 is the top priority," Leslie said, echoing others. "K-12 is under-funded. They haven't gotten their piece of the pie, and I'm sure there is some shifting to do."

Whether an assemblyman or senator, Republican or Democrat, there is a sense among lawmakers that K-12 deserves priority .

Even Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, a die-hard supporter of higher education who disagrees strongly with Assembly Democrats ' contention that K-12 hasn't gotten its share of the budget, told university officials Thursday that he doesn't think "the state can fund all of those who want to go on to higher education.

"It's not the function of the system," Raggio said.

Lawmakers cite federal statistics that indicate Nevada is dead last in state-supported per-pupil funding for K-12 education - but 14th in the nation for per-pupil funding for higher education.

Higher education officials also can raise tuition to cover funding needs, and tap private and federal dollars more easily than K-12, lawmakers said.

Others say universities' role in job training and economic development make higher education as essential as K-12.

Higher education officials also suggest the No. 14 ranking is an unfair comparison. Some more established universities have less state support than UNLV, but their per-pupil funding is greater because of other revenue sources.

Lack of financial resources is one factor that keeps UNLV and UNR in the bottom quartiles of U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Rogers has stressed the need to raise private money and tuition to pay for improvements at UNLV and UNR. But donors, he says, cannot be expected to make up the difference if state funding is reduced.

"That has a chilling effect on donors," Rogers told lawmakers Thursday.

It does no good, however, to cut K-12's budget to fund higher education or vice versa, Rogers says. He believes lawmakers should first cut other budgets, starting with prisons.

Education accounts for more than 50 percent of the state's budget. Gibbons recommended $2.5 billion for K-12 and $1.34 billion for higher education.

When state revenue projections came in lower than expected, Gibbons asked higher education to cut $32 million more, but the K-12 budget was spared further cuts.

One item especially vulnerable to the red pen is an advisory council that promotes communications among educators from both systems, lawmakers and business leaders. The group has worked on increasing high school graduation requirements to better prepare students for college or a vocational track, and on developing a common database to better track students through the K-21 pipeline.

Higher education officials have asked for $400,000 over the biennium to support the council with a staff member and new programs. Of the roughly 40 states that have formed such councils over the past 10 years, the most effective have their own staff and funding, said Jennifer Dounay, policy analyst for the Education Commission of the States.

Several lawmakers reached by the Sun said they support the council in principle, but many felt the council could function without more money.

In the face of budget shortfalls, lawmakers sounded frustrated with K-12 superintendents and higher education officials for refusing to prioritize funding needs during hearings. At the same time, lawmakers hesitated to decide what to cut or what to fund until new revenue projections come in May 1.

"We need to continue our march in improvements in K-12 and in higher ed," Buckley said. "We are careful not to pitch it as an either/or proposal, but to look at it as one entity."