Reject Gibbons’ proposal

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009 | 2:09 a.m.

Members of the Nevada Legislature now have a clear mandate in regard to Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons’ budget outlined Thursday in his State of the State speech — they must unite in reworking the whole mess.

No budget can be taken seriously that proposes a 36 percent cut in higher education, recession or no recession.

Legislators should not believe they can simply tweak the budget here and there and make it sensible. They need to start over in a nonpartisan way and create a realistic budget, one that will withstand a Gibbons veto.

Higher education in Nevada would take decades to recover if Gibbons’ inequitable cut is allowed to stand. Governors come and go, but higher education is what builds this state’s future, generation after generation. It must not be decimated just because one governor backed himself into a corner with a foolish campaign promise not to raise a single tax or fee.

How can society expect to thrive if its leaders cut higher education to the bone? Most college graduates, whether they have pursued a community college trade program or a university academic field, go on to fill vital jobs and leadership positions. Cutting higher education funding by 36 percent could mean prohibitive tuition rates, discouraging high school graduates from fulfilling their educational potential.

That would hurt Nevada communities, as it is the state’s colleges and universities that produce the nurses, teachers, engineers, dental hygienists, electricians, automotive technicians and other skilled people whose work is essential.

Fortunately, Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, in responding to Gibbons’ speech, shared what she learned while attending meetings and participating in public forums across the state over the past four months. She said she found widespread support for education, adding, “Attending college should be a reality for our children, not a foreclosed dream.”

We hope a veto-proof majority of the Legislature shares her view.