Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Editorial:

Wrong again

Governor’s failure to support higher education is unacceptable

Gov. Jim Gibbons has proclaimed his support of education in the past, but his actions speak louder than his words. The most recent example is the way the governor and his staff have treated Dan Klaich, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Gibbons’ staff said the governor was “deeply, deeply disappointed” in how Klaich responded to his request for proposed budget cuts. In a polite letter, Klaich pointed out that he couldn’t give the governor proposals — only the elected Board of Regents can. Klaich also argued against more cuts, noting that higher education had taken the brunt of the last round of cuts.

Klaich called more reductions “ill advised,” particularly because the system is running at capacity because of workers flooding back to school to get new job skills.

“We have all agreed that there is a desperate need to diversify our economy and to create jobs,” Klaich wrote, adding Nevada needed a “robust system of higher education that will train the workforce and spur the inventiveness required to lead us out of this dark economic time.”

The state’s colleges and universities can be an engine to help spur the economy forward but, as Klaich noted, Nevada “won’t cut our way to excellence in education.” If the governor is disappointed, he should be disappointed in himself for failing to support education.

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