Saturday, June 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Backers say wage, school petitions full

Petitions to raise the minimum wage and fund Nevada public schools to the national average have more than enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot and will be turned in Monday, according to petition supporters.

The minimum wage petition has about 80,000 signatures, far above the amount required to qualify for the ballot.

The petition would amend the state constitution to raise the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour from the current $5.15.

The effort is backed by a coalition of labor unions, workers' activists and Democrats. Petition backers say their polling indicates that voters are inclined to give the state's lowest-paid workers a raise.

Billy Rogers, president of the Southwest Group, has led the petition drive for Give Nevada a Raise in part because as a Democrat he sees it as wedge issue, but also because its popularity within the party has helped win him more clients in his fledgling consulting firm.

"There's just overwhelming support because most voters think it's very needed," Rogers said. "I think people will turn out to vote on this because it's a good cause."

The Nevada State Education Association said it also has collected about 80,000 signatures supporting its initiative to raise the state's per pupil education funding to the national average, a mandate that could force legislators to boost current spending by more than $500 million per year.

"Funding to the national average promises better learning conditions for all Nevada students, the quality education they need and deserve," NSEA President Terry Hickman said. "The voters of this state are clearly sending a message: Public education is the priority, and it should be funded to the national average."

On Monday morning, both groups plan to hold news conferences after turning in their petitions. The two efforts both exceeded the 51,234 signatures required by state law to qualify for the ballot. Rogers said his group plans to spend the weekend seeking additional signatures before turning in the petitions.

D. Taylor, president of the Culinary Union's local 226, said the minimum wage petition would "affect those workers who need it the most."

"In Las Vegas, with the cost of gas and the cost of housing, certainly the minimum wage hasn't caught up with that," Taylor said.

Taylor said roughly 79 percent of the people in minimum wage jobs in Nevada are adults, and about 25 percent of adults earning minimum wage are single mothers.

"No matter how rich you are, you can understand that if somebody takes home just $200 after full-time work for a week, it's not much," Taylor said.

Paul Brown, Southern Nevada director for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, said the increase might not sound like much but would go a long way toward making workers less dependent on the state's social services.

"It certainly will help. If you're working full-time, a dollar an hour is $2,000 more for you (annually)," Brown said.

Because the initiative seeks to amend the state Constitution, it would have to pass this election year and again in 2006 to result in the change.

The NSEA proposal to increase school funding has drawn support from educators and criticism from the Nevada Taxpayers Association for being too vague. It was proposed as a companion to the Education First proposal sponsored by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Education First, which already has been turned in, calls for Nevada lawmakers to fund education before other state programs. The union initiative takes that one step further by proposing a funding goal.

According to U.S. Census data, Nevada ranked 46th in per student spending for the 2000-01 school year, at about $5,778 per pupil.

Both education initiatives are part of a backlash resulting from the 2003 legislative session, when legislators failed to meet the statutory deadline for approving an education budget.

The delay resulted in hiring freezes in numerous school districts, including Clark County. Nye County school officials postponed school openings until the funding situation was resolved.

Schools ended up receiving more than $1.6 billion for 2003-05, an increase of 33 percent over the previous biennium.

Review-Journal writer Lisa Kim Bach contributed to this report.