A fiscal suicide pact

As Gov. Jim Gibbons and state lawmakers prepare to address a budget deficit approaching $1.2 billion, the country's fifth-largest public school system is so determined to do the bidding of teacher unions that it's ignoring the realities of a slumping economy and all principles of good governance and public accountability.

At issue is a 4 percent pay raise for all state employees, including about 18,000 Clark County School District teachers, set to take effect Tuesday at a cost to taxpayers of $130 million. Gov. Gibbons has called a special session of the Legislature beginning Friday to make further spending reductions that could include all or part of the 4 percent pay raise.

However, the School Board on Thursday is scheduled to ratify a new contract with its teachers, including the 4 percent pay raise. Superintendent Walt Rulffes and the Nevada State Education Association have maintained for the past month that the pay raises, passed by the Legislature last year, cannot be rescinded no matter how the School Board votes and regardless of whether the Legislature cuts or eliminates them in special session. Mr. Rulffes has even claimed that if lawmakers slash the raises, the school district would have to fund the pay increases itself through massive cuts and layoffs.

It's a preposterous set of arguments, essentially holding that closed-door, "good-faith" negotiations between government worker unions and publicly employed administrators create binding obligations for taxpayers, and that legislators and trustees have no power over the public purse.

Not even the dire projections of the Economic Forum, which on Friday forecast a decline in sales tax revenue in the coming fiscal year, has swayed the school district from its position on the pay raises.

Might the district support postponing Thursday's contract ratification vote, at least until the Legislature's special session is concluded? No one in the administration is talking. Mr. Rulffes won't be available for public comment until Thursday's board meeting, according the district's communications office. All questions about the contract and the board's vote were forwarded to district counsel Bill Hoffman, who also will have no comment until Thursday's board meeting, according to communications staff.

Members of the School Board are elected to provide oversight. They are elected to manage the district's billion-dollar budget. If they vote to ratify a contract that might not be fully funded, on the night before state lawmakers convene to address one of its core provisions, they will be abdicating their most fundamental responsibilities. They will be committing malfeasance of the highest order.

If board members complete this fiscal suicide pact, will they really have the nerve to ask voters to approve a $9.5 billion bond issue in November?

At a bare minimum, this contract and all others that come before the board should contain a provision that outlines contingencies for economic downturns. These are public entities dependent on public funds. How can this contract not account for the possibility of budget adjustments at the legislative level?

Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said last week that her union would sue any school district that does not include the 4 percent pay raise in teacher paychecks distributed after July 1. Fine. But whatever support the NSEA has built through its relentless demands for higher teacher pay, the union risks losing it if a judge orders beleaguered taxpayers, dealing with job losses and reductions in income, to pony up more to provide educators with a "cost-of-living" raise on top of their 5 percent "step" increases.

Like lemmings dashing toward a cliff, the entire education establishment is putting public schools in financial peril. The course for the School Board is clear: Delay Thursday's contract ratification vote until the Legislature and Gov. Gibbons can reach a budget accord, then approve the pact with stipulations that address the possibility of further spending cuts.

And administrators would be wise to remember they aren't servants of public employee unions. They must answer to the public for their policies and positions, not hide under their desks.