Nevada Gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid put forth his education plan, Economic Development through Greater Education (EDGE), on March 22, 2010. He held a town hall meeting that night at 6:30 pm at Bracken Elementary School. He presented his plan to a group of students, educators and citizens and told the crowd that the plan would work for Nevada.

There, an economist would appear and explain that the plan can be paid for and all measures proposed would work. A picture perfect moment was when Dan Klaich, the Chancellor of the Nevada Board of Regents and Co-Chair for the Nevada Reform Task Force, shook hands with the candidate, smiling as if to tell him “good job.”

Let us not forget the fact that we are far from improving our economy, and thus, far from improving our school system.

Although Rory did draft EDGE, with the help of his campaign staff, there are many things that are borrowed from other candidates and our own Governor. He charges that his opponents, Judge Brian Sandoval and Governor Jim Gibbons, only want to cut education. However, Rory Reid made a mistake in the defense his own plan. He failed to define how he will pay for his education plan. Yikes!

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The new Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 provides much needed help for Nevada students. Nevada Senator Harry Reid led the Senate in passing improvements to the health insurance reform law enacted earlier this week.

In addition to improving upon the historic health insurance reform law, this bill helps Nevada students trying to pursue higher education at a time when the state is slashing assistance for it. The education provisions of this bill will increase the maximum Pell Grant and ensure annual increases to match the rising cost of college. It also invests in college access and completion programs to help more Nevada students stay in college and complete their degrees. Nevada students will see the following benefits:

• An estimated $120 million in additional Pell Grant funding, helping nearly 3,000 more low- and moderate-income students afford a college education. The bill annually increases the maximum Pell grant from $5,350 to $5975 by 2017. An additional 13.5 billion is pumped into Pell grants to cover the massive influx of new students returning to school during the recession. Last but not least, an additional 36 billion will be spent on Pell grants over the next 10 years.

• Nevada colleges and universities will receive $7.5 million over the next five years for default prevention, financial literacy and debt counseling, and other programs to retain and graduate more students.

• Nevada community colleges will be eligible to apply for millions of dollars in grant funding to improve educational or career training programs.

• Starting in 2014, college graduates in Nevada will be able to cap their loan payments at 10 percent of their net income, and have their student loans forgiven after 20 years of making payments.

“We took a good law that reformed health insurance and we made it better,” said Reid. “Not only did we close the donut hole so our seniors won’t have to decide between groceries and medicine, we took care of students. Young adults can now stay on their parents’ health insurance plan so they can continue to study and look for work without losing coverage. We also boosted assistance so that more young people can afford to pursue higher education. These improvements will strengthen the new law and help a lot of Nevadans in the process.”

In a time when Nevada is facing unprecedented budget cuts to its higher education system, it is good to know that we have representatives in Washington like Senator Harry Reid who are looking out for Nevada college students.

The latest on Jim Gibbons’ affair?  Private meetings on education.  O.K., different affair.

Education? Yes, I support education.

He recently formed the Blue Ribbon Education Reform Task Force, headed by Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich and Director of Wynn Resorts Elaine Wynn, but only to handle the ‘Race to the Top’ grants.

The big controversy surrounding this Task Force is that they met at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in a private meeting.  Why?  This is a public board put forth by the Governor to handle these grants and help his vision on seeing education in Nevada get to its funding of past years.  Daniel Berns (Gibbons’s Communications Director) and Stacy Woodbury (Deputy Chief of Staff) said that with the media being involved in it would make things more complicated.  Additionally, it was the committee’s decision to have a private first meeting.

I can not see that as an honest, legitimate reason.  What this board decides will affect me and other students all over the state.  Also, if the board decides to implement ideas that Governor Gibbons or any of the other candidates for governor put forth in 2011, I would like for them to hear my voice on many of the issues.  Not only that, there are teachers, administration and staff who would put their voices in too.

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The SOS Save Our Schools theme is taking off all over the nation.  Most Americans realize the importance of education to our future.  With a bad economy, low tax revenues, and state budget shortfalls, many  governments are looking at education as a place to cut.

Parents, students, and concerned citizens everywhere are taking up the banner of SOS.  The logo even appeared in a nationally syndicated cartoon seen here.

Just do a Google search for ‘Save Our Schools’ and you will find numerous websites that use this slogan all over the USA.

The organizations are also utilizing social media sites like Facebook, to get their message out there.

In Nevada, students from CSN, UNLV, and NSC wore the SOS: Save Our Schools shirts in Carson City to protest the cuts to education that are now over 7%.

Next year the budget deficit will likely be as high as 50% of the State of Nevada’s budget.  With that looming, students are continuing the fight by registering to vote and keeping supporters updated via their web presence.

We have a tab at the top of this page dedicated to the cause.  In addition, we have the Facebook icon to the right in black and yellow colors, that takes you to our Fan Page for SOS: Save Our Schools.

Thank you for your support.  If any graphics design or printing people want to help our cause, we need fliers and posters to promote community awareness.  Our contact information is listed above.  Save Our Schools!

The Clark County Sheriff’s race has six candidates running for the office in Nevada.  Dan Barry, Mark F. Beckerle, Laurie P. Bisch, Tim Deam, Douglas C. Gillespie and Gordon Martines.  So who are all these people, and why is this race even interesting?

First, this race is very important to our community.  Nevada has the 3rd highest violent crime rate in the nation.  As the head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Sheriff’s office helps shape the policies that guide how we fight crime in this county.

After June 8th’s primary there will only be two candidates left.  That makes the decision a little easier.  Given political history holds true, the incumbent Doug Gillespie will likely make it that far.  So the primary is mainly about who will be his opponent.

This is a non-partisan race, so picking the candidate based on party line will not help here.  Let’s take a look at some of the candidates.

Dan Barry:

Here is a descriptor from Captain Barry’s Facebook Fan Page.

Captain Dan Barry recently retired from the LVMPD after a distinguished 30 year career. He rose through the ranks at Metro as an on-the-beat cop, undercover cop in narcotics, Sergeant for the Gang Unit and Narcotics Unit, Lieutenant for the Northeast Sub-Station, Internal Affairs and Resident/K9/MPU and Captain for the Gang Crimes, Special Investigations and Criminal Intelligence Divisions, among many others.

He is most well known for his service and key role in “Operation G Sting”, which resulted in the arrest, prosecution and jail time for 3 Clark County Commissioners, a former Clark County Commissioner and a strip club owner.

His thesis “Handling Police Misconduct in an Ethical Way” has been well read for the past 10 years.\

John L. Smith with the Las Vegas Review Journal added this:

Unlike some others who have challenged for the job in recent years, Barry brings a rock-solid work history inside Metro to the race.

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Many Nevadans are having a hard time comprehending Governor Jim Gibbons idea of self-management.  This is not a new idea, just an idea that most Nevadans have not seen in a while.  Governor Gibbons is saying that certain bureaucracies should make decisions for themselves on conclusions like state employee work weeks and budgets.

Governor Gibbons wants the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board to decide how to raise money and how the universities and colleges should operate.  This is positive and negative in many different ways.

First off, I am a student and a citizen of this state.  I was there for Governor Gibbon’s speech at CSN for the Board of Regents meeting for NSHE.  He touted his speech as his ideal of “change.”  Between his inauguration and that speech, he vowed to uphold education but did nothing but cut it.  What he successfully managed to do is cripple education for this generation of Nevadans and one of the most active voting and outspoken groups in this country’s history.

I can not wrap my head around this idea; a politician cannot just change his mind about policy on such an important issue as education during a mid-term election.  It is wrong and it makes all his constituents – who in this case are students – feel like their voices have no meaning.  We voted this man over former State Senator and now Congresswoman Dina Titus on good ole Jim’s pledge of Education First.

Now, he is saying he wants to fund education to its historic levels.  Dear Governor, where have you been since early 2007?  When we needed you the most you believed that education, the biggest slice of the pie in the Nevada state budget, should be cut to save the state.  What you admitted is that education will save this state and it needs more funding?  Are you kidding me?

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“Protest signs at Board of Regents meeting”

Governor Jim Gibbons outlined the details of his six step plan to make “sweeping changes to modernize higher education” in a press conference Thursday morning. “As a graduate of Nevada public schools and universities, I am committed to ensuring quality education in our K-12 and higher education systems,” Gibbons told reporters.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

The good news is that the plan is consistent with (taken from) proposals by regents and chancellors of today and the past. For some time, the Nevada System of Higher Education has been seeking more control over its own fate.

The plan would allow future increases in registration fees and out of state tuition to be retained by the campuses generating that revenue. In an attempt to promote efficiency, the proposed changes also include the System retaining 25% of unspent general funds each year. Right now all unspent funds return to the state’s general fund.

In addition, these changes will give the regents more control and autonomy over how state funds are spent in the System.

There was mixed reaction in the crowd. Chancellor Klaich, and some of the regents I spoke with afterward, assured me that these are many of the plans they had been seeking for some time, and that they were pleased with the Governor’s commitment.

The part that has some worried is Gibbon’s emphasis on students bearing more of the burden of the cost of higher ed. He said that higher education in this state is “a bargain,” and further that “it is fair to ask our students to bear a greater share of the cost of education through increased tuition and fees.”

Aren’t tuition and fee increases is tantamount to a tax increase? The sad part is that the tax increase is going to college students who typically have little income, are going to school because they were laid off, or are simply trying to improve their income situation.

Affordability factors into the success of diversity among race as well as income levels at the higher ed institutions.  It appears the Governor would rather knock us while we are down, rather than tapping into the multiple sources of revenues that create Nevada’s 16th highest GDP per capita in the U.S.

Never mind that Nevada’s taxes are practically non-existent. If we were in California, I could see a discussion about excessive taxes, etc. Nevada is the opposite extreme. This is why Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval refuses to promise that he won’t raise taxes. It just isn’t realistic anymore. It never was.

Mining has been subsidized by our state for too long. Mining did come to the table and agreed to a tax increase during this special session. Thank you guys.  However, you have had it far too easy since your interests were built into our constitution at inception. Currently, our constitution protects mining from anything more than a 5% tax on their proceeds, a figure they determine.

Large international multi-billion dollar corporations don’t pay any taxes here, minus sales tax and other minutia in filing fees. McDonald’s, Wal Mart, Applebees, Dillards, AT&T, General Electric, etc., etc. Come on. They still do business in California and New York. We don’t tax them here, even after they come here and make millions of our hard earned money?

Something ain’t right my friends, something ain’t right.

The Nevada Board of Regents will meet tomorrow and Friday to tackle the mandated 6.9% cuts to higher education. Governor Jim Gibbons is expected to attend. A press conference is planned for 10:45 a.m. It is expected that the Governor will propose dramatic changes to the system.

Students from the S.O.S. Save Our Schools movement plan to attend the meetings, along with student leaders and institution presidents. Organizers say that Regents, the Chancellor and other faculty will join students in wearing the black and yellow S.O.S. shirts.

Senator Bob Coffin wearing S.O.S. shirt during Special Session hearing

Perfect timing. Tomorrow has been declared “Save Public Education Day” with a call to action from the American Association of University Professors.

The fight for education is going on all over the country. Nevada’s protests have been noticed elsewhere. People everywhere know that this is no time to be laying people off when the economy is bad, or making it more difficult to reeducate our workforce.

For more information on the Regents meeting, or to watch it online, go here.

Apparently some students are camping out in protest near the building where the Regents will meet tomorrow. See the video here.

If you are interested in getting involved in the S.O.S. movement, click on the recruitment poster below. You can also visit us on Facebook by clicking on the black and yellow Facebook icon in the right column.

March 1st passes as candidates in Nevada make their bids official. The talk of the town is the governor’s race. The incumbent governor Jim Gibbons has been all over the news lately, and his poll numbers are rising.

The Nevada Primaries will be on June 8th, 2010. The final fate of the Republican candidates will be decided. Brian Sandoval leads that race and the general so far.

Rory Reid has some obstacles. The stigma of his father’s name, and the impatience of the American People, have the Clark County Commissioner trailing in most polling so far.

What will these two candidates mean for Nevada? No one can say for sure how either of them will act in any given situation. Nevada faces a 3 to 5 billion dollar budget shortfall next year. This year’s was only around 900 million. Imagine the controversy next year will bring.

Thus far, Brian Sandoval refuses to sign the tax pledge (which would restrict him to never raising taxes under any circumstances). He said it would not be smart.

Brian Sandoval appears to be a moderate, and I think he is. However, Brian will have to deal with his party in this state. I can assure you that his party in Nevada is most recently more on the ultra conservative side. Members of his own party are already on the attack, pointing to Sandoval’s history.

His stance as Attorney General in Nevada wherein he demanded that the state legislature fund education or violate their duties under the state constitution has many conservatives in an uproar.

Oddly enough, this issue of the constitutional requirement to fund education was not brought up this go around. Its as if the decision in Guinn vs. Legislature never happened.

Rory Reid has publicly supported making education a top priority. Now, the public must deal with the question of who will be more prepared to face next year’s massive budget deficit. Do we want a “no-taxes” guy in there? Or do we want to slash funding to our most basic services of education, and public heath & safety by 30-40%?