Education budgets up for review today

Lawmakers today review some of the most controversial portions of Gov. Jim Gibbons' proposed Executive Budget " the 35.9 percent General Fund cut to higher education and proposed changes to state worker benefits.

Chancellor Jim Rogers has said cutting $472.5 million from the $1.3 billion in state funding this biennium would "shut the system down."

Jim Richardson of the Nevada Faculty Alliance said the proposed budget would dismantle the system and "limit severely the educational opportunities for Nevadans to improve themselves."

Several lawmakers have already questioned the plan, including Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

Rogers said it's not possible to make up the loss by raising tuition and registration fees. To make up that amount of money, he said, tuition would have to increase more than 225 percent.

The proposed benefit changes would put a greater burden on employees. Instead of covering 90 percent of employee premiums, the state would pay 75 percent. That would save the state an estimated $158 million over the biennium.

But it would increase the employee premium by $112 a month. And the hit would be the same whether that employee makes $120,000 a year or $24,000 a year. For the lowest level classified workers, it would be effectively a nearly 6 percent cut in take home pay.

In addition, the budget proposes eliminating benefit subsidies for all those who retire after July 1, cutting existing subsidies for retirees in half and eliminating subsidies for retirees who are Medicaid eligible.

K-12 education programs are also on the agenda. Although the per-pupil amount the state provides was held flat, K-12 lost a number of programs, including the remediation fund and incentive programs designed to keep teachers in at-risk schools.

The overview before the combined memberships of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Legislature.

Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.