Public schools bill OK’d

CARSON CITY — In a bipartisan vote, the Assembly agreed 42-0 Wednesday night to appropriate $2.477 billion in state tax revenue for the support of public school education.

The amount approved in Assembly Bill 563 by both Republican and Democrat legislators is nearly $200 million more than Gov. Jim Gibbons proposed in his budget.

In backing the bill, Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, said he supports the education increase as worked out by legislative budget committees, but would be looking for “comparable reductions on the rest of the budget.”

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, replied that legislative budget negotiators did not support reductions in other budget areas.

Cobb, however, still supported the bill.

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said she remains concerned that there will be little Republican support for tax proposals needed to cover the additional spending added during hearings to Gibbons’ budget.

In most legislative sessions, the education budget is one of the last bills approved by legislators before adjournment.

This year, legislators are scrambling to finish the budget early in case Gibbons vetoes their plan to increase taxes by $780 million. That would give them time to try to override his vetoes before the session adjourns June 1.

Under the bill, public schools will receive an average state support of $5,251 per student in the school year that begins next fall and $5,395 in the following school year. Current state appropriations are $5,098 per student.

Even with the increase, teachers still are slated to receive 4 percent salary reductions. What pay they ultimately receive will be determined during union negotiations with individual school districts.

Gibbons had proposed cutting state support to public schools to an average of $4,945 per student this fall and $4,946 the next school year.

The bill moves to the Senate for more hearings and probably a final vote by Friday.