Governor Gibbons Denies Teachers, State Works More Money

In what has been anything but a popular decision, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has proposed a freeze in the state budget for pay increases for all teachers and state workers for the next two fiscal years. The decision is an attempt to shore up the budget which is projected to see smaller revenues over the next two years.

Unfortunately, this includes raises for cost of living increases, regular annual raises or bonuses.

The Nevada State Education Association is planning to fight the proposal at the next legislative session in February and could have some pretty strong footing since their contracts have performance pay raises or "step in pay" increases already written in. The current contracts expire June 30, 2009 and the Clark County Education Association has said they will begin negotiating a new contract early next year.

One concern put forth by the NSEA is that with no pay increases, larger classes and more workload many teachers may leave the state, and with no incentive to come to Nevada new teachers will steer clear as well. Extracurricular activities such as sports could also be eliminated, and students may have to walk further to get to schools as funding for bus services becomes more limited as well.

Nevada already ranks far below the national average for educational funding, coming in before only three other states: Utah, Mississippi and Oklahoma. The annual national average spent on students is $9,154 while Nevada spends only $7,177.

Clark County School District has had no comment on the proposal yet.