Which is the real world?

CARSON CITY

A couple of Republican constitutional officers, Treasurer Dan Schwartz and Controller Ron Knecht, ruffled feathers last week when they collaborated on an “alternative” state budget that’s $500 million smaller than GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed spending plan.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise: Schwartz suggested he’d offer his own thoughts on the budget when he campaigned for the office. Plus, an alternative budget fits nicely with the alternative reality in which some Republicans choose to live, a reality that only rarely intersects with our own.

In our reality, governed by the state constitution and the Nevada Revised Statutes, the governor proposes a budget to the Legislature, based on projections from the Economic Forum. The Legislature debates that budget, adds and subtracts as it sees fit based on updated Economic Forum numbers, and passes a budget in bill form. The governor then signs or vetoes the budget.

State controller? State treasurer? They’re not involved in the process. The controller is in charge of managing the state’s checkbook, and the treasurer invests the state’s state money. But in their free time, why shouldn’t Schwartz and Knecht play governor? Or maybe king, since at least one of their ideas — imposing a surcharge on passengers at the state’s major airports — is not currently legal.

The alternative budget doesn’t entirely omit taxes — most of the supposedly temporary “sunset” taxes included by Sandoval in his budget would continue, along with an increase in the state gambling tax. But $2 billion in tax incentives and abatements (more than was authorized to bring Tesla to Northern Nevada!) for various private companies wishing to relocate to Nevada, but apparently unwilling to do so without bribery? How exactly is the state to make up that lost revenue?

The dynamic, if somewhat delusional, duo further say there’s $20 million more to be found somewhere in the state government, but they fail to identify precisely where. If only they had access to state budget documents …

Oh, and schools? Apparently, they’re getting too much: “But the Governor’s budget funds a vast expansion of the State’s educational system, a system that despite receiving generous funding in the past, has failed to deliver the goods,” Schwartz and Knecht say in a news release. “The [state controller’s office] report reminds us that throwing money at a problem will not solve it. Though a common belief in the political world, sadly, that is rarely the case in the real world.”

In the real world.

In the real real world, the one in which the state is required by law (and we are required by our conscience and self-interest in perpetuating American democracy) to provide a quality education to every child in Nevada, things are different. We don’t just give up when the system fails some kids; we fix it.

And while funding for Nevada schools has increased, it hasn’t increased enough. Nevada’s schools, for example, haven’t ever been funded to the national average. Think of it more simply: If you got $2 for lunch every day, you’d be hard pressed to eat well. Suppose they doubled your allowance, a 100 percent increase? You’d have more money, but you’d still be searching for a $4 lunch.

Sandoval, along with many Republicans in the Legislature, including Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson and most of his caucus, and a goodly number of Republicans in the Assembly, realize that school reform in Nevada isn’t just about more money, but also that it can’t be accomplished without more money. They’re seeking a package of reforms and money to fix some of the problems in Nevada education.

In the real real world, that is.

Schwartz and Knecht can speak out all they like, even if its beyond their policy portfolio and contrary to the policy set by the administration in which they serve. The only risk for them is being relegated to an alternative reality. But the majority of the Legislature and the governor have work to do.

Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.