Teachers might file lawsuit
CARSON CITY -- Despite a commitment from legislators to reduce proposed pay cuts, leaders of the state and Clark County teachers unions said Tuesday that they still might file a lawsuit against the state or school districts on the grounds that public education has not been adequately funded.
During an evening hearing Monday, Senate and Assembly joint budget committee members announced that they will reduce to 4 percent a 6 percent salary cut that Gov. Jim Gibbons wants teachers to take starting in July. They also said they will restore some of the health care benefit cuts Gibbons proposed for teachers.
What legislators did is an improvement over Gibbons' plan, but Nevada State Education Association President Lynn Warne said it "certainly is still a step backward."
That could force the NSEA or local teachers unions to sue the state or school districts for inadequately supporting public schools, she said. Such a lawsuit would be filed on behalf of students and their parents.
John Jasonek, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, the local teachers union, said he would support such an adequacy lawsuit.
"We support any reasonable means to bring reasonable funding to education in Nevada," he said. "Whatever it takes."
Jasonek emphasized that the 4 percent pay cut backed by the legislative committee was only a recommendation.
"They don't earmark how money is supposed to be spent," he said.
He said the union will do "everything it can to preserve" salaries and benefits.
The Clark County School District is negotiating salaries with its four unions representing administrators, teachers, support staff and police, Superintendent Walt Rulffes said Tuesday.
Because 90 percent of school district operational spending goes to salaries, "compensation will be the major issue," he said.
New contracts are supposed to go into effect July 1, but negotiations don't necessarily need to be finished by then because evergreen clauses keep current contracts in place until new terms are agreed upon.
Rulffes was optimistic about state funding, noting that a 4 percent pay cut was better than the governor's recommended 6 percent pay cut for teachers.
"It's a step in the right direction," he said.
The smaller cut might help the school district's budget for next year, which is still $20 million out of balance because of anticipated losses in property tax revenue.
District officials are uncertain how the state might offset losses in property taxes.
State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said Friday that the governor and the Legislature must make up nearly $400 million in declines in property taxes and sales taxes that school districts receive.
"We still have a lot of issues remaining," Rulffes said. "I don't think by any stretch we're home-free."
Warne said that the NSEA "realizes the economic situation of this state."
State general fund tax revenues, according to estimates by the Economic Forum on Friday, will be $5.5 billion over the two-year period beginning July 1, about $300 million less than during current budget period.
The forum, a group of five business leaders, estimates tax revenue that legislators and the governor by law must use in formulating the state budget.
The tax decline would be greater except for a 3 percentage point room tax increase sought by the teachers union that was approved by legislators in March. This tax will produce $220 million over the next two years.
Teacher compensation is only one component of providing an adequate education in Nevada, Warne said.
The unions now must wait to see what the Legislature does with class-size reduction, full-day kindergarten and other education programs. Action on the programs could come today.
"We are still talking about filing an adequacy lawsuit," she said. "We need to see what funding levels come out at the end of the session."
Warne said salaries and other forms of compensation for teachers are bargained at the school district levels. Full-day kindergarten, class-size reductions, program remediation, special education, English as a second language and other education programs are not subject to collective bargaining.
But in considering an adequacy lawsuit, teachers unions would have to consider the effect of budget cuts on the programs and the effects on student performance, she said.
Because bargaining for compensation is conducted between the teachers' local bargaining units and the school districts, Warne said, the lawsuits might be filed by the bargaining units.
Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-799-2922.
LAWMAKERS MUM ON STATE BUDGET TALKS
Key lawmakers met behind closed doors for about three hours Tuesday afternoon to discuss the state budget but would not say afterward what, if any, decisions were made.
“We’re just reviewing numbers based on the gap between revenues and essential services, with the goal of trying to preserve education,” said Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas.
The size of that gap “depends on which number you use,” he said. “It’s big enough. Big enough that we need a solution based on shared responsibility.”
Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said that for now, lawmakers aren’t talking about what taxes they will raise to fund their desired spending.
“I will be honest with you, we have not been discussing potential revenues at this point,” he said. “We’ve been discussing what are the essential services that we can agree will be funded.”
Sources involved in the talks say a tentative picture is beginning to emerge, but a final deal on the budget hasn’t been reached.
Legislators hope to finalize the K-12 education budget in a hearing today and make the remaining major spending decisions by the end of the week.
A major hurdle was cleared on schedule Monday when a joint committee approved the equivalent of a 4 percent salary cut for teachers and unpaid holidays that will reduce other state workers’ pay by 4.6 percent.
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