Bill to delay education layoffs signed by governor

(AP) " A bill extending the legal deadline for notifying school district employees that they will be rehired or laid off for the next school year was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

AB542 gives the districts two more weeks to determine how many employees they will be able to retain. Without the extension, school districts would have had to notify school workers of their future employment status by Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, said the law change is important because of uncertainty over K-12 school funding from the state's distributive school account that must be authorized by lawmakers for the coming two fiscal years.

Gibbons also signed AB533, which makes a supplemental appropriation of $323 million to the school account because of unanticipated revenue shortfalls this fiscal year.

Sen. Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, has said the amount in AB533 is $7 million more than what Gibbons recommended.

The Republican governor's proposed budget for the next two fiscal years provides nearly $2.3 billion, or 37 percent of the total budget, to K-12 schools. That's down 2.6 percent, or nearly $62 million.

The state's per-pupil spending would drop from $5,098 this year to $4,945 next fiscal year; and increase by just $1 to $4,946 in the second year of the upcoming budget cycle.