For Those Who Believe They Are Entitled
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
In spite of the hardships experienced by those in the private sector, dealing with the economic downturn, rising costs, business failures, high unemployment, increased tax burdens – the solution for the $900 Million shortfall in state budgets – at least in the minds of those who consider themselves above the rest of us…raise taxes some more. In spite of the extremely low performance of students in tests which measure what has been learned, these seem advocates can only focus on how they should be getting more funding.
Until the federal government started handing out more dollars for states which required some level of accountability, the Nevada educational establishment wasn’t interested in measurements linked to teacher performance. They even were able to team with their legislative allies in passing a state law that prohibited such accountability (oops! Now that has to be changed to get some of those federal dollars).
More money seems to be at the central core of all educational priorities – and who is it that we chastise for being greedy?
In this on-going series, which has been reporting on the e-mail campaign by University of Nevada, Las Vegas employees we see that those in the ranks of the state’s higher education system are also not of the opinion that reductions in their funding should be an option.
Reading between the lines in news accounts such as this there does seem to be some inclination on the part of at least one member of the Board of Regents to consider solutions for the system of higher education taking up their responsibilities to do what needs to be done. Regent Alden has been getting more recognition for his thinking on dealing with the challenges of not having all the money that University officials consider as being theirs.
It is somewhat interesting to note that a reduction of the size needed would be so much money…
Attempts to use the budget crisis as another excuse to increase taxes should be considered to be another example of how some people can’t get enough of other people’s money.
It is going to be an extremely difficult challenge to deal with the situation of the budget hole of state spending…working around those who consider themselves more entitled than others will not make the process any easier.
In spite of the hardships experienced by those in the private sector, dealing with the economic downturn, rising costs, business failures, high unemployment, increased tax burdens – the solution for the $900 Million shortfall in state budgets – at least in the minds of those who consider themselves above the rest of us…raise taxes some more. In spite of the extremely low performance of students in tests which measure what has been learned, these seem advocates can only focus on how they should be getting more funding.
Until the federal government started handing out more dollars for states which required some level of accountability, the Nevada educational establishment wasn’t interested in measurements linked to teacher performance. They even were able to team with their legislative allies in passing a state law that prohibited such accountability (oops! Now that has to be changed to get some of those federal dollars).
More money seems to be at the central core of all educational priorities – and who is it that we chastise for being greedy?
In this on-going series, which has been reporting on the e-mail campaign by University of Nevada, Las Vegas employees we see that those in the ranks of the state’s higher education system are also not of the opinion that reductions in their funding should be an option.
Reading between the lines in news accounts such as this there does seem to be some inclination on the part of at least one member of the Board of Regents to consider solutions for the system of higher education taking up their responsibilities to do what needs to be done. Regent Alden has been getting more recognition for his thinking on dealing with the challenges of not having all the money that University officials consider as being theirs.
It is somewhat interesting to note that a reduction of the size needed would be so much money…
“If higher education is forced to take a 22 percent cut, the seven-campus system would see a $37 million cut this year and $110 million next year, according to information provided by Klaich to the Board of Regents earlier this week.”…and this doesn’t even include the funding received from the other sources of revenue (such as the pipeline of dollars that Senator Harry Reid has provided for “research” projects to figure out how to get water away from private citizens who are using their water rights for agricultural production).
Attempts to use the budget crisis as another excuse to increase taxes should be considered to be another example of how some people can’t get enough of other people’s money.
It is going to be an extremely difficult challenge to deal with the situation of the budget hole of state spending…working around those who consider themselves more entitled than others will not make the process any easier.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 2/5/2010 4:44 AM 
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Nevada Educatiional Funding Nevada Taxes and Spending
Categories: Nevada Budget
Tags: Nevada Educatiional Funding Nevada Taxes and Spending
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