Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Both of the Legislature's money committees have agreed to spend about $160 million more than the governor proposed for K-12 education.
And while the $2.1 billion Distributive School Account closed in both the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees Wednesday, the two houses have different approaches to what they'd like to see funded and serious questions about how the Legislature is going to pay for the $548 million in new education spending each committee authorized.
Despite the differences, the two plans were being greeted as good news by the school district, Joyce Haldeman, director of community and government relations for the Clark County School District, said.
"When there's increased funding, kids wind up the winners," Haldeman said this morning. "I'm pleased the discussion about education funding has been raised to a new level. Obviously everyone here recognized the importance of properly educating all our children."
The Assembly added $164 million in increased spending to the amount proposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn in his executive budget. Guinn's budget was already $384 million higher than the amount budgeted for the biennium, which ends June 30.
The highlight of the Assembly's change is a proposed teacher salary increase of 2 percent in the first year, costing $37.5 million, and a 4 percent raise in the second year, costing $119.3 million.
Neither the Senate nor Guinn proposed any raises for teachers.
Other changes between the governor's budget and the ones approved by the Senate and Assembly are as follows:
Guinn wanted $24.2 million to implement full-day kindergarten in about 30 percent of schools in 2004. The Assembly instead backed the iNVest plan which called for a competitive grant for full-day kindergarten costing $6 million.
The Senate put full-day kindergarten, as proposed by Guinn, on its so-called "wish list" for negotiations. The Assembly's wish list, by comparison, includes bringing the average starting teacher salary to $30,000 and adding five days to the school year.
The Assembly kept class sizes at 16 students per teacher in first and second grade and 19-to-1 in third grade, and approved $14 million in the second year of the biennium to add reduce kindergarten class size to 16-to-1.
The Senate decided to save money by giving local school districts the flexibility to implement 22-to-1 class sizes in those grades.
The Assembly saved some money by nixing Guinn's proposed teacher stipends for high-impact programs and at-risk schools, and got rid of the proposed teacher signing bonuses. The Senate kept the stipends and bonuses.
A portion of the money the Assembly cut was redirected to expand teacher's retirement credits and the rest was earmarked to a pool of money to fund the wish list item of a $30,000 starting teacher salary.
On Guinn's proposed $50-per-pupil textbook funding, the Assembly added a provision that the money must supplement, not supplant, existing funds since texts run $80 to $111 on average for a student.
The Clark County School Board has approved two versions of its budget for the 2003-04 fiscal year, one based on the governor's plan and the second containing $111 million in cuts. The second version, referred to by district officials as "the worst-case scenario budget" would be put into place if the governor's plan for new taxes is not approved by lawmakers.
In the Assembly, just two committee members opposed closing the school account even though several others questioned how the Assembly plans to reach agreement over the policy differences with the Senate.
"What happens with this, if this is approved?" asked Assemblyman Josh Griffin, R-Henderson. "Obviously there's a whole tax rationale to consider."
But Griffin and Republicans Walter Andonov of Henderson and Dawn Gibbons of Reno signed off on the plan. Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, and John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, were the lone opponents, and Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, was absent.
After the Assembly vote, education lobbyists said they were pleased with the money committee decisions.
"It shows their priority is funding education," Nevada State Education Association President Terry Hickman said. "It shows they're on target."
After the Assembly hearing, Hettrick said voting against the budget might paint him as anti-education, but, he said he is really just opposing increasing the spending.
"We're increasing the budget by $540 million on DSA alone," Hettrick said. "If we were flush with money and not having economic concerns you could look at some of the things they're voting to fund."
Griffin, who said he reluctantly voted for the budget, argued the funds are all needed and do go into the classroom.
"It's hard to say how and how much," Griffin said after the vote. "I think the number is valid, but I also think there are probably ways it should come down.
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