Officials speculate about effects of spending cuts

CARSON CITY -- Lay off 1,000 teachers. Fire 2,000 state employees. Close entire state agencies.

Those scenarios could occur, union and education leaders say, if state agencies and schools must reduce their spending in March by 10 percent.

Gov. Jim Gibbons announced Tuesday that because of the worsening economy he wants state agency directors, along with public school and higher education leaders, to report back to him by Jan. 5 on how they would cut their budgets by 6 percent, 8 percent and 10 percent.

That request came after a state budget office report that tax revenues in the July through September quarter were $67 million short of projections on which the budget was built.

Superintendent Walt Rulffes said a 10 percent reduction in state support could force the Clark County School District to lay off 1,000 teachers.

"If the state makes further funding cuts to K-12, I would push for everyone working fewer days, rather than laying off personnel and larger class sizes," he said Thursday. "Maybe even a temporary shortened school year."

Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne predicted that if schools laid off teachers, classes with 40 or 50 students would become common.

"We already have standing-room-only classes," she said. "How long are we going to continue to cheat kids out of an education?"

Oregon also is considering cutting its 180-day school year. During a recession from 2001 to 2003, some schools in Oregon cut their school years by 17 days.

A 10 percent cut in Nevada would reduce state spending by $436 million between March and June 30, 2011, the end of the state's two-year budget cycle.

If applied across the board, most of those reductions would come from the biggest agencies: public schools, which Gibbons wants to prepare a list showing cuts of as much as $168 million; the Nevada System of Higher Education, $67 million; and the Department of Health and Human Services, $132 million.

The latter agency administers most state social programs, including welfare, Medicaid, food stamps, foster care, mental health and child protective services.

But Gibbons emphasized that the reductions might not be needed if tax revenues rebound. And he added some agencies might not see any cuts, and others could endure higher cuts.

Rulffes pointed out that 87 percent of Clark County School District funds go to personnel costs, which could leave him little choice but to lay off teachers and other workers -- or shorten the school year.

The school district has 18,000 licensed personnel, most of them teachers. Last summer it laid off 600 custodians, secretaries and others support workers because of a revenue drop. Teachers were spared layoffs because some vacant positions went unfilled.

Rulffes added it would be difficult legally to lay off teachers during the school year because they work under contracts. Daniel Klaich, chancellor of the Higher Education System of Nevada, made similar comments earlier this week about professors. They also work under contracts and students already have signed up for next semester's courses.

Klaich noted that higher education already is suffering from nearly 13 percent cuts approved during the 2009 Legislature. Further reductions would be devastating and he questioned whether he can even prepare a list for Gibbons that shows cuts of 6 percent to 10 percent.

State agencies would decimated by 10 percent cuts, added Dennis Mallory, chief of staff of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041 in Carson City.

"You are talking massive layoffs, 2,000 or more people. We would be shutting down correctional facilities, eliminating services we are mandated to make."

Mallory noted a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce report last year showed Nevada, on a per-capita basis, already has the lowest number of public employees in the nation.

"A 10 percent cut would be pretty catastrophic," he added. "I would not want to live in close proximity to a prison. It would not be safe."

Such a cut would reduce Department of Corrections spending by $27 million.

Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said after a recent state Board of Examiners meeting that his staffing levels are dangerously low and any cutbacks in staff would pose a public danger.

Though he won't say where his agency might propose cuts, Health and Human Services spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said that $132 million in reductions is equivalent to the amount of money going to the Welfare Division and the Health Division.

With the state economy tanking, Kieckhefer added his agency's employees are busier than ever.

A record 225,000 Nevadans receive free health care through Medicaid, and a record 248,437 people receive food stamps. About 29,000 are on welfare. That is not a record, but it is higher than in many years.

"When the economy goes south our business goes up," he said. "We are the place people turn to when they are not making it."

Mallory only saw one palatable suggestion in the e-mail Gibbons sent Tuesday.

Gibbons asked state employees whether they favor a four-day, 10-hour a day work week.

"That is not a bad idea," Mallory said.

Contact Review-Journal Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.