Horsford pledges to fight university cuts

Associated Press

RENO " Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford on Saturday pledged to join Chancellor Jim Rogers' fight against Gov. Jim Gibbons' proposed 36 percent budget cut to the state's higher education system.

Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said he would work in a "bipartisan manner" during the upcoming session to ensure Rogers' dire predictions for the future of education in Nevada don't come true.

In his State of Education speech on Friday night, Rogers said the first-term Republican governor's proposed budget cuts would turn the public education system into a "disaster."

Horsford noted a crowd estimated at 2,000 protested Gibbons' proposal at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Thursday night. Earlier in the week, the student newspaper at the University of Nevada, Reno called for Gibbons' impeachment.

"Clearly, Nevadans want a world-class education for themselves and future generations," Horsford said in a statement.

"The new Democratic majority in the Senate is dedicated to doing everything it can to protect Nevada's educational system. As Chancellor Rogers pointed out, the governor's proposed cuts are too short-sighted and devastating," he added.

In his State of the State speech on Jan. 15, Gibbons said he would seek no new taxes to deal with the state's financial crisis.

The governor's proposed reductions were even deeper for the state's two universities in Reno and Las Vegas " roughly 50 percent.

Under Gibbons' proposed budget, funding for the Reno campus would be slashed by 48 percent for academics and would be increased by 3 percent for athletics, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported on Saturday.

Funding at the Las Vegas campus would be cut by 54 percent for classroom instruction and research and would be increased by 3.6 percent for athletics, the newspaper reported.

A crowd estimated at 2,000 protested the governor's proposed budget at UNLV on Thursday night. Earlier in the week, the student newspaper at UNR called for Gibbons' impeachment.

In his speech Friday night, Rogers warned Nevadans that Gibbons' budget "will ultimately destroy your children's chance to be well-educated.

"Even if you do not have children in school, each of us has a vested interest in contributing to the success of the current generation of students," Rogers said.

UNR President Milton Glick said he thinks the proposed budget would hurt the state for decades to come.

"I do not believe either the Legislature or the governor want to do the damage this budget does," Glick said.