Living for Friday

Sunday, April 5, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

For years Nevada has shortchanged primary and higher education, along with other critical government services.

The results can be seen in overcrowded prisons, cramped classrooms and the dearth of public health programs and social services. Higher education system Chancellor Jim Rogers says the real issue is Nevada’s lack of a vision. In a recent memo to regents on the state budget, he criticized “Nevada’s short-term thinking” about setting goals and making plans. As an example, Rogers says, he hears most Nevadans express three goals in life: buying a car, buying a house and making plans for the coming Friday night.

That sounds like the way governors and lawmakers typically handle the biennial budget: approve some construction projects, modestly increase a few programs and hope to finish in time.

As a state, Nevada essentially lives paycheck to paycheck. Budget discussions in Carson City typically focus on getting the state through the next two years, which means drastic cuts this year. However, there is always a vain hope that maybe in two years the economy will be better and then there will be enough money to actually improve the state.

Nevada is living in denial. Nothing will change until the tax system is fixed, and Nevada won’t improve until someone presents a better vision for the state. Unfortunately, this year the discussion in Carson City is more of the same. The tax system can’t be fixed because, it’s said, raising anyone’s taxes during a bad economy will kill business. Yet a few sessions ago, when the economy was good, the tax system couldn’t be fixed because raising taxes, it was said, would run off business.

So the state is faced with more cuts in services, which will only further harm Nevadans’ quality of life. That is tragic. We can’t say we’ve found anyone happy with the schools or the services the state offers, yet no one has been able to muster the political will to make things right.

What a sad state of affairs. Because Gov. Jim Gibbons is AWOL, it’s up to lawmakers to take a stand: What do they want Nevada to look like two, 10, 20 years from now?