Saturday, March 22, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Douglas Thunder, assistant superintendent of public instruction for finance, testified that Miller's proposed public school budget doesn't cover inflation costs in operations and equipment over the next two years.
"There is a serious clash with reality," Thunder said.
Sen. Jack Regan, D-North Las Vegas, noted there was a declining percentage of the budget going for operations and equipment.
"I get calls all the time that children don't have books," he said.
Figures presented by Thunder showed that a greater percentage of the budget was going to salaries.
Equipment costs, he said, are shrinking from 2.9 percent of the budget to 2.4 percent, and operating costs are falling from 10.1 percent to 9.5 percent.
Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, said there's a perception that equipment and operations money has been bargained for contracts for teachers and other people.
"If this is not the case, we need to understand that," Rawson said. "We need to see comparisons."
Thunder said the suggested inflation costs should be 6.8 percent, not 6.4 percent for the next two years.
But state Budget Director Perry Comeaux said the budget does not give across-the-board inflationary costs to every category.
He said his office examines such things as utility, insurance and printing costs. Other things are nebulous, he said. His office zeroes in on those things that can be computed, Comeaux said.
"Just because you spend $5,000 on paper doesn't mean you should get $5,500 next year," he said.
Miller's budget provides an increase in per-pupil support statewide from $4,471 last year to $4,707 in 1998 and $4,834 the year after.
In Clark County, the basic support per student goes from $3,527 to $4,171 next year and to $4,309 in 1999.
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