Monday, April 25, 2016 | 2:59 p.m.
Two Democratic state legislators are hoping to make higher education a focal point of next spring’s legislative session.
Assemblyman Elliot Anderson and Sen. Joyce Woodhouse announced today that they plan to push for legislation expanding the Legislature’s oversight of the Nevada System of Higher Education, following a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal showing a close relationship between the system and one of its consultants while advising the state Legislature.
The legislators hope to clarify the Legislature’s role in overseeing the Board of Regents, who are elected directly by voters, expand protections for whistleblowers within the system and require presidents of each institution to present their budgets to both the Board of Regents and the Legislature, among other measures.
They also welcomed input from other legislators, administrators, staff, students and the public in shaping the legislation.
“We need to improve our access to information in order to help each of our universities and community colleges thrive,” Woodhouse said. “Going forward, we welcome all ideas from our legislative colleagues, administrators, faculty, staff, students and the public to increase transparency within Nevada’s higher education system.”
Both Anderson and Woodhouse are up for re-election in the fall.
Anderson’s seat is considered safe in the heavily Democratic Assembly district, while Woodhouse will have to battle Republican Carrie Buck, principal of Pinecrest Academy, to retain her seat in Senate District 5, which only has a slight Democratic voter registration advantage.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy