Vigils protest education cuts

They showed up to protest by the hundreds and claimed to speak for thousands.

Their message: Keep state budget cuts away from K-12 education.

"I have never been more concerned about the state of education than I am today," said Linda Johnson, who has three children in the Clark County School District's Southwest Region.

"This is the time of year at my daughter's elementary school when they start running out of supplies. They have to use student-generated funds just to buy toilet paper and paper towels."

Johnson was among 100 people at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night at Bonanza High School. A similar protest took place at Henderson's Greenspun Middle School and also drew about 100 people.

Both events, and two additional protests in Reno and Carson City, were organized by Nevadans for Quality Education, a not-for-profit education advocacy group.

The vigils are a response to Gov. Jim Gibbons' decision to include education in the proposed 4.5 percent budget reductions faced by most state-funded entities. The cuts are Gibbons' intended solution for a shortfall in projected state tax revenues.

Public education faces a $96 million budget reduction for the 2007-09 biennium. About $58 million of those cuts may fall on Clark County, the nation's fifth-largest public schools system.

Parents, teachers and elected officials at the Bonanza rally said the answer to Nevada's budget woes must lie elsewhere if students are to be successful.

"The governor doesn't think that we're strong enough to stand up and fight this," said Randy Boggs, a board member of Nevadans for Quality Education and an educational computer strategist for the district. "But we are absolutely going to make a difference. We can't go wrong by doing what's right."

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes and other Nevada school leaders were to meet with Gibbons today to discuss what funding could be cut and the impact proposed cuts will have.

Items identified by Gibbons' staff as potential reductions include the expansion of all-day kindergarten, creation of empowerment schools to improve student achievement, equipment funding, reserve funds in the Clark and Washoe districts, and one-shot money for various education purposes.

"I think our governor's priorities are in the wrong place," Clark County School Board Member Carolyn Edwards said as she handed out lit candles to those at the Bonanza vigil. "I understand that the state is in a crunch, but I don't think this is how to fix it."

Boggs spoke to the assembled crowd and read quotes from Gibbons in support of public education. During his campaign for governor and throughout much of 2007, Gibbons said he was a supporter of schools. That's not showing in the proposed cuts or the secretive way he's making decisions, Boggs said.

"It's happening in secret, where we can't see it," Boggs said. "He's going to erase the numbers in the budget and write in something he thinks is fair and equitable."

Edwards urged people to call, write or e-mail Gibbons to protest cuts in Nevada school district budgets.

"Ask for a special session," Edwards said. "Bring legislators together and talk about what's right, what's fair and how we should handle the budget crunch."

Contact reporter Lisa Kim Bach at lbach@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0287.