Don't read this if you want to have a happy weekend. It'll still be here Monday (unfortunately).
TomCoburn new debt proposed by Administration's budget is larger than the total
amount of debt accumulated by the government from 1789 to today
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President Barack Obama will reverse a U.S. plan to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the senior senator from the state, said in a newsletter to his constituents.
Read the whole thing here.
And see here for a study NPRI did on the Yucca Mountain issue back in 2001.
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is like the kid who taunts the barking, chained-up dogs in the neighborhood.
This raises the question: Why does Nevada even have a Commission on Economic Development? It gives away money (in the form of tax breaks) to favored businesses, but the job of government isn't to pick winners or losers in an economy. Its purpose is to provide a level playing field for all—a.k.a. a low tax and regulatory burden that's the same for every business. The same principle can and should be applied to STAR bonds, which Reno uses to give sales tax money to developers that build in certain areas.Northern Nevada economic development officials say that they recently lost a manufacturing plant, planned by a company headquartered here, to another state because the other state offered a better incentive—not a tax abatement or government-back bonds but a check—for cash.
There haven't been any reports of Nevada officials seeking authorization to write checks to convince companies to open shop in the state, but lawmakers should keep that incident in mind when they debate the future of such economic-diversification tools as redevelopment districts and STAR bonds.
Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-Las Vegas, who has overseen the study, said Nevada has fallen into the same trap as many states.
"People were just giving away incentives to bring folks to their community, to draw businesses and be the hub of a certain type of empire," she said. "But nobody was looking at the long-term fiscal impact."
President Barack Obama last night made a claim that medical care expenses have led to 1 million bankruptcies. Congresswoman Dina Titus appeared on KNPR radio today to repeat that error.
As Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute has noted, "Those figures on health care bankruptcies have long since been discredited. In 2007, the last year data was available, there were just over 822,000 non-business bankruptcies nationwide. But according to a study by Dr. Ning Zhu at UC-Davis, only 5 percent of them were caused by medical bills. That's only 41,000 medical bankruptcies, a far cry from the more than 1 million Obama implies. In fact, seniors who qualify for Medicare (universal health coverage) are 125 percent more likely to go bankrupt than people under age 65."
By the way, if Dina Titus and Barack Obama are so interested in making health care affordable, why don't they stop taxing it? Why aren't they trying to lift barriers to entry? Why don't they eliminate prohibitive laws that outlaw private citizens buying insurance out of state? Why don't they encourage more Health Savings Accounts so people are motivated to hold individual doctors accountable for their bills? Currently, doctors often face little constraints on the prices they charge, since third party companies, rather than the customers, are paying the bills.
Of course, since all of these steps make too much sense, maybe the real goal is not making health care affordable.
Breaking news from Dan Lips and Robert Enlow, writing for National Review: Democrats have a $450 billion omnibus bill which has a provision to eliminate the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program—a voucher program which helps 1,700 low-income students attend private schools of their choice.
Lips and Enlow say, "Angered scholarship parents may wonder why Congress is moving so quickly to end this $14 million program just as the federal government is showering money on Wall Street and the auto companies."
So after showering big corporations will billions upon billions of dollars, Democrats in congress seek to take a miserly $14 million scholarship program away from low-income children in the nation's worst school district?
Welfare for the rich is good governance, but assisting underserved children in getting a better education is not?
Politicians serve and assist concentrated special interest groups, not parents and certainly not children. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program helps low-income students leave the dismally failing (though not underfunded: D.C. schools spend over $24,000 per student) public schools, to attend a private school of their parents' choice.
While Obama's presidential salary allows him to afford Sidwell Friends for his daughters, the vast majority of Americans can't afford private school tuition—some don't even earn a yearly wage that matches the tuition of elite schools like Sidwell Friends. That leaves most Americans stuck in the government-run public school monopoly—and since when were monopolies good for consumers?
The closest approximation to a parental-choice program in Nevada public education—the state's fewer than 30 charter schools—is exceptionally poor, thanks to powerful special interest groups that have long stood in the way of progress and reform. While Sen. Barbara Cegavske and Assemblyman Ed Goedhart both have offerred parental choice bills that would challenge the status quo and empower parents, the question is: How far will these bills go? And how far will special interest groups go to protect the destructive status quo?
Will Sen. Horsford help push for pro-parental-choice education reform? Such programs are extremely popular among underserved African Americans nationwide.
It will be interesting to see where loyalties lie in Nevada, now that Democrats in Congress have exposed their true colors: welfare for the rich, but the abysmally performing public school monopolies for the poor.
The State Assembly today will vote on whether to approve the ballot initiative sponsored by the state teacher union that would increase the room tax in Clark and Washoe counties. The proposal would increase the tax on transient lodging in those counties by an additional 3 percent of gross receipts.
This tax increase has received implicit support from Gov. Jim Gibbons, who included it in his Executive Budget in spite of his "tax pledge." According to Gibbons' Executive Budget, he expects the new tax to amount to $292 million over the next two years. Industry leaders, however, have highlighted that the tax increase will only further dissuade tourism in a market that has been hard hit by recent economic conditions. They say revenue from the new tax will likely be between $120 million and $130 million over the biennium.
Update: Assembly passes the tax increase, 35-7. Little doubt about what the Governor will do.
As a Special Order of Business, the State Senate at 11:15 this morning will consider whether to override the governor's veto of SB 146. The bill would authorize county governments within the state to levy an additional ad valorem (property) tax in order to finance the detainment of children.
While this authorization would not on its own represent a tax increase, it will give county commissioners across the state the option of whether or not to raise property taxes. Authorization such as this can only come from the legislature.
If the bill is passed, it could lead to the first tax increases of 2009.
Update: The RGJ reports that the Senate has voted to accept the Governor's veto. (The RGJ's redesigned site looks really good, btw.)
There were no votes to override the veto of the 2007 proposal, which Gibbons said would have “almost certainly” led to increased property taxes in several counties without allowing voters to have a say.
Since this proposal, which likely would have led to tax increases, failed, Sen. Coffin is worried someone might think he's against raising taxes.
Don't worry Sen. Coffin, everyone in the state knows you want to raise taxes.During brief discussion of the bill on Thursday, Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said the decision by the Senate to not override the governor shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of “a particular position” against taxes.
“We’re going to have other bills come to us involving taxation of various kinds from the local governments, the elected representatives of those local governments,” Coffin said, adding that legislators “certainly ought to weigh decisions on their side.”
Assuming that students already enrolled in private schools become eligible gradually over the first seven years of the program, the Public Education Tax Credit is estimated to save nearly $1 billion in its first 10 years.Yes, that's billion with a "b".
Annette and Tom Westerfield discussed some of the hardships their family would face were they forced to move to Liberty. Their oldest son has been in band and football for the past two years. In band, he has worked to raise money which would go toward any of his band needs, and his personal account totals $500. If he transferred, that money would revert back to Coronado's general band fund and he would have to start over, she said.
Plus, he'd have to start over with a different band and a different team, which might affect scholarship opportunities for the aspiring USC student, Annette Westerfield said.
"We're counting on football or band scholarships for college," she said.
Now Liberty's principal, Rosalind Gibson, is promoting her school to try and win parents and students over.
Liberty High School's principal is defending the quality of her school in the wake of protests by Anthem parents that their children may be moved from Coronado High to Liberty.
"We have something for everyone," Principal Rosalind Gibson said before rattling off some of her proudest moments—from both boys and girls basketball teams that have made the regional playoffs to an award-winning dance program and the involvement of student volunteers.
While it makes sense for Gibson to sell her school, what doesn't make sense is forcing students and parents who don't want to go to Liberty to transfer there solely based on where they live. No doubt Liberty's dance program and less crowded environment would appeal to some students and their parents. Maybe there are also some students at Coronado who have fallen in with the wrong crowd or struggled to make friends and could use a fresh start at a new school.
This is the double tragedy that is happening at Liberty and Coronado. Not only are students who love Liberty likely to be forced to leave and go to a school they don't want to attend, but students who may have benefitted by transferring to Liberty are denied that opportunity because they don't live in the right neighborhood.
It doesn't have to be like this. As Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation for Teachers, recently wrote:
Should fate, as determined by a student's Zip code, dictate how much algebra he or she is taught? Such a system isn't practical: Modern American society is highly mobile.
No, location is a horrible factor in determining where a student should attend school, whether determined by zip code or arbitrary lines.
Parents and students should decide what school is right for them, rather than schools deciding what students they will serve based on where their parents live.
And yes, Nevada could implement a system of school choice that would solve the problem at Coronado and Liberty and save the state over $1 billion in the next 10 years.
That would be a win for parents, students, Liberty and Coronado high schools, and taxpayers.
between the effectiveness of a certified teacher and an uncertified teacher.
This means that teacher certification requirements reduce the supply of effective teachers available for Nevada to hire.
Nevada, like many states, has strong certification requirements and no real path toward alternative certification. This means that Nevada’s efforts to reduce class size have only had the result of increasing the likelihood that Nevada’s students are exposed to ineffective teachers.
Beyond harming students, teacher certification requirements also harm minorities who aspire to become teachers.
Research by Paul Peterson of the Hoover Institution found that states with real alternative teacher certification programs not only saw significant gains in student achievement but that the percentage of minority teachers increased as well. States with real, not symbolic, teacher certification pathways see a teacher population that is more reflective of state demographics.
Florida created real alternative pathways for becoming a teacher, and today about half of all new teachers in Florida are alternatively certified. The proportion of minority teachers has also increased to a level that more closely resembles the makeup of the state population.
In Nevada, however, minorities make up 41 percent of the population but less than 9 percent of our teachers. Given that 91 percent of teachers in Nevada are white, the state’s Department of Education might as well hang a sign on the door that says “minorities need not apply.”
Source: U.S. Department of Education and Hoover Institution
Nevada's legislature can remedy the situation, improving instructional quality and student achievement while also raising the number of minority teachers.
All lawmakers need to do is eliminate the state's restrictive and useless teacher certification requirements.
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, has been on a months-long tour to convince Nevadans the state must overhaul its “boom and bust” tax structure in favor of a more stable framework.
The states with the biggest deficits tend to be the most profligate. California has by far the biggest gap—$40 billion—thanks in part to a 40% increase in spending over the last five years. Arizona, Florida and Nevada also have deficits of roughly 20% of their operating budget; each of these states allowed their expenditures to grow by more than 50% faster than the average state budget over the last decade. (h/t Nevada Taxpayer)Nevada's problems do not come from its unique way of collecting taxes. They come from spending more than it can afford. There is a solution, however.
Paul Senseman, spokesman for Gov. Jan Brewer, said before Arizona closed its $1.6 billion budget gap for the current fiscal year in late January, the state was approaching cash flow issues akin to those states. But budget cuts have improved Arizona’s fiscal front and officials are not looking at delaying tax refunds or other such measures, he said.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers—one of the largest teacher unions in the country—recently published an opinion article in the Washington Post stating that she favors strong national education standards.
It is interesting to see this commentary, considering the teacher unions spent the last eight years complaining about No Child Left Behind. Apparently, now that "their guy" is in power, it's OK. Turns out, she was against it before she supported it.
In her commentary, she tries to use the National Football League (NFL) as an analogy to suggest how "unfair" it is for states to set their own standards.
"Imagine the outrage," she writes, "if, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers had to move the ball the full 10 yards for a first down during the Super Bowl while the Arizona Cardinals had to go only seven. Imagine if this scenario were sanctioned by the National Football League. Such a system would be unfair and preposterous."
Her analogy does not work, for two reasons. First, the particular flaw in the national No Child Left Behind legislation to which she refers is one that both national teacher unions sought. And given the states' obvious desires to keep federal dollars flowing, it was clear that the federal government was setting perverse incentives.
Although NCLB requires states to achieve 100 percent reading proficiency by 2015, "proficiency" was left to each individual state to define. The entirely foreseeable result has been that states dummy down their standards so that they can pretend education is improving and can receive federal dollars without interruption. Nevada is no exception to this rule.
The final problem with Weingarten's analogy is that national standards federalize education. It would almost certainly mean a uniform, one-size-fits-all education system for millions of students across the 50 states.
The proper NFL analogy would be a scenario in which the NFL required all teams to run the exact same playbook, using only the I-Formation on offense and the 4-3 formation on defense. No stunts, blitzes, motion plays, play action passes, fourth-down conversions or onside kicks. No one would have developed the spread offense that allowed Kurt Warner to go from bagging groceries to throwing for over 4,000 yards in a single season, becoming an NFL MVP. Nobody would have been allowed to create innovative systems molded to the unique skills of their players, approaches allowing them to develop and achieve the new heights that innovation alone allows.
The federal government needs to drop its ultimately irresponsible mandate for 100 percent reading proficiency by 2015. This has, unfortunately, given states incentive to harm students by dumbing down requirements. But we also need to keep the federal government out of setting academic curricula and standards.
States need to operate as experimental laboratories for education and democracy. We need innovations from the states, in order to see what works and what does not.
One-size-fits-all means everyone fails together—and no one knows how to succeed.
A mere 41 percent of students attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas graduate within six years. Only 32 percent of African-Americans and 37 percent of Hispanics graduate within that period.
At the University of Nevada, Reno, just 48 percent graduate within six years. Only 37 percent of African-Americans and 41 percent of Hispanic students do so.
Over half of college students in Nevada cannot graduate within six years. This is no laughing matter.
The Nevada System of Higher Education has more than likely been actively recruiting high school students who, statistically, stand little chance of graduating college. Nevada's higher ed system is making big promises of a better life for many students, but given NSHE's dismal performance the only things guaranteed are debt and disappointment.
"Mining will be taxed, but so will a lot of other businesses, and individuals,
too," said Senate Taxation Committee Chairman Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas.
Clark County school administrators are cracking down on open-ended overtime for campus police and support staff.
School trustees acted Thursday after officials cited budget constraints and said the Las Vegas-area district paid $12.7 million in overtime in 2007 and $14 million in overtime in 2008.
School Superintendent Walt Rulffes says overtime had become "excessive" for some employees.Officials say two school police officers alone made more than $106,000 each in overtime in 2007-08.
This week, the Clark County School Board is getting ready to spend $2 million of taxpayer money to help the City of Henderson build a new swimming pool.
So, where is the district getting the money?
From the taxpayer-approved 1998 Capital Improvement Bond. That’s right, 10 years and $4.9 billion later, CCSD is trading in schools for pools. But it’s not just pools. In January, the school board also approved putting aside another $5 million to help the City of Las Vegas build the Smith Performing Arts Center.
Sure, the district is getting the use of some swim lanes for school swim teams. But is money earmarked to build new schools the right funds to tap for that? How does using bond money to pay for athletic expenses—swim lanes for swim teams are athletic expenses—help the students sitting in portables or attending year-round schedules?
In 1998, voters seeking to ward off overcrowding, year-round schedules and double sessions approved a bond to build new schools and modernize old ones. Today, taxpayers will still be carrying tax obligations for repayment on that $4.9 billion until the year 2028. CCSD is still overcrowded, on year-round tracks and claiming a need for yet another new capital improvement bond to build more schools.
Perhaps, instead of pools, CCSD should use the remaining $700 million to build and fix schools—just like voters intended.
Please meet Lucas Estrada. Lucas is an elementary student in Florida who has autism. A voucher through Florida's McKay scholarship program allowed him to attend a private school, where "Lucas thrives in academic, art, and physical education programs designed to meet his needs, and has made many friends." The scholarship also saved his life. Yes, you read that right—it saved his life.
This is worth mentioning because Sen. Cegavske has introduced a bill that would establish a special needs scholarship program here in Nevada.
Enjoy Lucas' heart-warming story and ask yourself what's stopping this from happening in Nevada.
As a special education teacher in a Miami public school, Lynette Estrada always felt that she was on top of her two children's academic and emotional progress. Lynette noticed that her son Lucas had autistic tendencies at a young age, prompting her to enroll Lucas at the school where she loved to work.
"I consider my school one of the best in servicing special education. Where else would I trust my son's education?" Lynette said.
Although Lucas could already read when he entered kindergarten, he encountered problems in the classroom. Lucas was bullied by his peers and had trouble with basic exercises like writing and speaking clearly. The school's principal placed Lucas in a self-contained classroom, but even there he was placed under restrictions that further inhibited his progress. For example, Lucas was not allowed to write with a pen or marker, despite accommodations on his Individualized Education Program. Although a simple task for other children, Lucas's weak hand grip required these tools to write successfully. Finally, Lucas's occupational therapist told Lynette that he had sensory processing difficulties that could not be addressed at that school. By second grade, Lucas's instructors recommended that he be placed in the school's emotionally handicapped classroom or find a new school. Lynette felt that the emotionally handicapped classroom was not the right place for her son, so she toured the schools recommended by her district—and was appalled by what she saw.
"The different levels of autism were all placed in one room due to funding," Lynette recalled. "I observed one child banging his head against a wall, one little girl with self-mutilation marks on her arm, and one boy removing his clothing and trying to bite the teacher because she was trying to stop him. The higher-functioning children were left alone. This was not the setting for my son."
When Lynette worked with her son after school, he would read at higher levels and complete his work. Lynette was encouraged by Lucas's progress at home and strongly felt that a classroom aide would give him the attention he needed to succeed.
"My son was capable of completing the work, just not in school. I knew what he truly needed was a classroom aide."
But Lynette's attempts to secure an aide for Lucas were unsuccessful. After Lucas's doctor told Lynette her son was capable of succeeding if placed in the right educational environment, Lynette decided to withdraw Lucas from his public school and apply for the McKay scholarship.
"It was then and there I made the decision to remove my son from my school-the school I loved," Lynette said. "Even though I regard my coworkers with utmost respect and admiration I knew my school was not the best place for my son."
Lucas now attends a private school for students with disabilities through the McKay scholarship program. Here Lucas thrives in academic, art, and physical education programs designed to meet his needs, and has made many friends—all accomplishments Lynette says are a "victory" for her son.
"At this school he is now reaching his full academic and emotional potential. He gets the extra individual help he needs and is able to flourish," Lynette said.
The attention Lucas receives at his new school didn't just save his ability to learn—it also saved his life. Lynette was told in kindergarten that Lucas had an overactive bladder, which explained his insatiable thirst and frequent trips to the restroom. But his new teachers did not buy the doctor's explanation. Lucas's teachers continued to encourage Lynette to question Lucas's physician. Their dedication saved Lucas's life—a tumor was found on his pituitary gland. Lucas was diagnosed with cancer.
"Lucas missed a lot of school but was able to continue his education even though he was under chemotherapy and radiation treatments," Lynette recalled. "The doctors felt confident that he could continue because the school he attended was so attentive to his needs. It was with the help of Lucas's teachers that my son is alive."
Lynette calls the McKay scholarship a "blessing" for her son and for the thousands of other children with special needs in Florida who benefit from the program. She still works as a special education teacher in the public schools, but feels that sometimes a private school may be the best placement for a child with disabilities.
"As a society we need to stop trying to make every child fit in a circular peg when in fact they are square ones. We need to embrace our children's differences and guide them so they can succeed."
Lynette cites "autistic heroes" like Albert Einstein, Andy Warhol, Isaac Newton, and Hans Christian Anderson as inspirations for Lucas's future.
"I am at ease knowing my son has hope for the future. He will not drop out at 16. He will graduate with a real diploma. He will continue to reach his full potential!"
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's (LVCVA) most famous ad campaign, "What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas" has finally bit the city of Las Vegas in the proverbial butt.
President Barrack Obama scolded corporations for using taxpayer money to fund trips out to Las Vegas. Following the chastisement by the President, Wells Fargo cancelled a major trip for its senior officials to Las Vegas. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs have also cancelled their trips.
The LVCVA and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman are fuming mad.
Mayor Goodman, the former mob attorney, stated, "I take serious issue with that and would demand an apology and a retraction."
But the LVCVA's campaign ads have clearly spelled out that Las Vegas is a place to party - and be naughty. Taxpayers don't want their tax dollars blown so corporate executives can have a great time at a casino with a call girl - and we can't blame them.
"That's so far from the truth," LVCVA CEO Rossi Ralenkotter said. "We have proven over the last 15 to 20 years that we are a place to conduct business so we need to get that message out."
Meanwhile in the very same week, the LVCVA sponsors a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model party at the Luxor. Serious indeed.
Of course, Nevada has a long way to go to prove that we are a serious place to do business, and we aren't talking about overcoming the stigma of the scandalous ad campaigns. Don't forget Las Vegas' mob heritage, one that is alive and well thanks to former mob lawyer Goodman pushing for a taxpayer-funded Mob Museum - a museum that has become the rallying call against government pork nationwide. Goodman and the LVCVA couldn't have done a better job of painting Las Vegas as a less serious place to do business if they tried.
But hey, maybe Mayor Oscar Goodman will offer President Obama a deal "he can't refuse."
The total amount won't be known until the city audit and a federal investigation are finished, but so far auditors have determined that at least $800,000 was misused, Rose said.
Still unclear is how the money was spent, who is responsible, and whether any crimes were committed, he added.
One question Rose's audit is unlikely to answer is whether the housing authority's board knew of the misuse of funds or has any responsibility in the matter.
"It's not the purpose of the audit to determine if the board should have stopped this from happening," Rose said.
The board includes four North Las Vegas City Council members, including Mayor Michael Montandon and mayoral candidate William Robinson.
Awesome.
Maybe it's time for some performance audits in Nevada and its cities. For the uninitiated, performance audits " look at the results achieved by any government entity and make recommendations for improvements."
In Washington State, performance audits have identified over $3.5 billion in savings over the next five years. And the audits cost less than $15 million.
For politicians seeking alternatives on the state's budget issues, performance audits could be a place to start.
Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Jim Rogers has issued a report on NSHE efficiency improvements, which you can read here.
Nevadans should certainly welcome the release of this report, and Chancellor Rogers ought to be applauded for reversing course on his earlier public claim that he would not detail NSHE cost savings.
One can't help but be skeptical, however, of the Chancellor's claim that, ‘If the Governor's proposed cuts were implemented, they would simply close the System.'
This hyperbolic statement, which refers to the cuts to NSHE included in Gov. Gibbons' proposed biennial budget, simply does not square with the facts. General fund appropriations account for only part of total NSHE funding, and when all sources of funding are included, cuts to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno, for example, amount to less than 15 percent of the schools' total operating budgets.
Also, between 2001 and 2008, NSHE's inflation-adjusted, per-pupil appropriations from the general fund increased by 21 percent. That cuts are necessary today is due primarily to the fact that NSHE funding has grown too long at a rate that is simply not sustainable.
Furthermore, it is important that Nevadans examine this report closely in order to distinguish between its genuine cuts and other measures that are presented as cuts but are, in actuality, ‘cost avoidance' measures. Indeed, many supposed ‘cuts' highlighted in this report are simply cases where NSHE is declining to spend money on projects it could never afford to begin with.
As Nevada's business owners and families make the difficult decision to cut back on their own finances, it is encouraging to see an attempt from NSHE to do the same. However, Nevada's taxpayers deserve better than Chancellor Rogers' exaggerated predictions of the effects those cuts will have and his dubious claims about the way the system is implementing those cuts.
Yep, it's bad..."You can't get corporate jets, you can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go
down to the Super
Bowl on the taxpayer's dime," Obama said...
Las Vegas tourism officials worry that increased scrutiny on business
travel will discourage meetings and conventions—business that would be crucial
for the city already suffering economically. The number of visitors to Las Vegas
was down 4.4 percent in 2008 compared with a year earlier, and visits in
December alone declined nearly 11 percent.
Late Monday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it had moved a three-day
conference from the Las Vegas Strip to San
Francisco amid what the bank called a broad review of its activities.
Goldman Sachs has accepted $10 billion in federal bailout funds.
Media coverage and Congressional criticism of corporate travel has created a "paralyzing environment," Roger Dow, president and chief executive of the U.S. Travel Association, said in a telephone press conference Monday.
Loews Corp. CEO James Tisch went a step further during a separate call with investors Monday about his hotel holding company's recent earnings.
"Congress has done a great job of killing the resort hotel business with the way they've criticized the number of financial firms from having conferences," Tisch said. "In fact, I just heard this morning of another investor conference that was canceled by another major investment firm because of the fear of being criticized by members of Congress." (emphasis added)
Dow said the lowest-paid workers _ bellmen, maids and waiters employed hourly _ are the first to lose their jobs when travel spending drops.First, props to Goodman for defending and promoting the city. No telling what all the publicity is worth.
A zoning change might seem like an obvious solution, but the district faces opposition from current Coronado students and their families who don't want to move to a new school.
School officials said they couldn't start the zoning change with just next year's incoming freshmen, because the other grades still would be imbalanced.
None of 10 students recently interviewed in front of Coronado was willing to attend Liberty instead.
A second part of the proposal would give all Coronado students the choice of attending Liberty next year. If more students elected to leave, fewer students from Anthem Heights and Madeira Canyon would have to go to Liberty, Baldwin said.
Dattoli said she anticipated the proposal might be appealing, because students would have more opportunities to play sports and participate in activities at Liberty.
The proposal could increase ticket prices by about 8 percent, which could dim Broadway's lights as tourists start thinking twice about that vacation in Manhattan. If tourism slumps in the city, the state's budget problems would surely worsen along with it. Rocco Landesman, the president of Jujamcyn Theaters, summarizes his latest pleas to lawmakers this way: "Please, don't kill your golden goose."
Nevada's modest 1 percent decline in spending (also known as Nevada's budget "crisis" to those less informed) has resulted in a proposed budget that seeks to cut state worker pay 6 percent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau state worker pay in Nevada ranks 16th highest in the country. So, contrary to the howls of state workers, they're actually well paid.
The governor's proposed budget will also cut teacher salaries. How well paid are Nevada's teachers?
According to the National Education Association, the nation's largest teacher union, teacher pay in Nevada ranks 22nd overall. Not bad.
But some argue that the cost of living is higher in Nevada than elsewhere, so the comparison is unfair. It is true that a straight salary comparison is an apples-to-oranges affair, but the cost-of-living adjustment is just one part of the equation.
The John Locke Foundation recently released national rankings of teacher pay that were not only adjusted for costs of living, but included teacher pensions and teacher experience as well. This is important to include because teachers are paid extra based on the number of years they've worked and not how well they actually teach students. States with younger teachers will see a lower average pay than states with older teachers.
The John Locke Foundation found that when making an apples-to-apples comparison, Nevada's teacher pay turns out to be 17th best in the country.
Rank | State | Avg. Salary | Pension Contribution | Avg. Years of Experience | COL Index | Adjusted Compensation |
1 | Georgia | $53,270 | 9.28% | 12.9 | 0.909 | $72,393 |
2 | Illinois | $62,787 | 9.50% | 14.7 | 0.971 | $70,238 |
3 | Kentucky | $49,539 | 12.36% | 13.4 | 0.914 | $66,270 |
4 | Alabama | $48,906 | 8.17% | 12.8 | 0.917 | $65,723 |
5 | Arkansas | $47,472 | 14.00% | 13.6 | 0.984 | $64,907 |
6 | Delaware | $55,994 | 6.10% | 13.4 | 1.002 | $64,523 |
7 | Ohio | $54,925 | 13.00% | 15.2 | 0.935 | $63,683 |
8 | Michigan | $57,327 | 8.10% | 14.7 | 0.967 | $63,572 |
9 | Alaska | $58,491 | 21.00% | 12.6 | 1.307 | $63,125 |
10 | Texas | $46,179 | 6.58% | 12.6 | 0.909 | $62,663 |
11 | Rhode Island | $58,491 | 25.03% | 14.3 | 1.200 | $62,146 |
12 | Arizona | $47,937 | 9.10% | 11.9 | 1.066 | $60,120 |
13 | New York | $65,234 | 8.60% | 13.2 | 1.305 | $59,972 |
14 | North Carolina | $48,603 | 3.05% | 12.8 | 0.963 | $59,252 |
15 | Missouri | $44,712 | 12.00% | 13.7 | 0.910 | $58,574 |
16 | California | $66,986 | 10.27% | 13.5 | 1.365 | $58,452 |
17 | Nevada | $50,067 | 10.50% | 12.8 | 1.087 | $57,983 |
18 | New Mexico | $50,067 | 10.50% | 13.0 | 1.012 | $57,800 |
19 | Louisiana | $59,284 | 15.80% | 15.2 | 0.950 | $57,633 |
20 | Oregon | $52,950 | 16.97% | 14.0 | 1.136 | $56,789 |
21 | Colorado | $48,707 | 11.15% | 13.2 | 1.058 | $56,529 |
22 | Indiana | $49,198 | 19.80% | 16.5 | 0.929 | $56,412 |
23 | Maryland | $60,844 | 11.17% | 13.8 | 1.275 | $56,059 |
24 | Oklahoma | $45,702 | 7.05% | 14.4 | 0.888 | $55,792 |
25 | Pennsylvania | $56,906 | 6.46% | 15.7 | 1.015 | $55,438 |
26 | Virginia | $48,554 | 9.20% | 14.0 | 0.998 | $55,337 |
27 | Idaho | $45,439 | 10.39% | 14.3 | 0.927 | $55,179 |
28 | Utah | $42,335 | 14.22% | 13.3 | 0.962 | $55,112 |
29 | Mississippi | $44,498 | 11.30% | 14.2 | 0.923 | $55,103 |
30 | Connecticut | $63,976 | 15.28% | 15.7 | 1.245 | $55,021 |
31 | Massachusetts | $62,769 | 6.00% | 14.9 | 1.188 | $54,812 |
32 | Wisconsin | $50,424 | 5.60% | 14.9 | 0.952 | $54,740 |
33 | Tennessee | $46,278 | 6.42% | 15.1 | 0.881 | $53,985 |
34 | Florida | $48,126 | 9.85% | 14.1 | 1.027 | $53,238 |
35 | Wyoming | $55,696 | 5.57% | 15.9 | 1.031 | $52,304 |
36 | Washington | $51,970 | 4.74% | 14.6 | 1.040 | $52,277 |
37 | South Carolina | $47,704 | 8.50% | 15.2 | 0.960 | $51,510 |
38 | Minnesota | $51,938 | 9.00% | 15.3 | 1.019 | $51,437 |
39 | Kansas | $46,987 | 6.77% | 15.5 | 0.922 | $51,191 |
40 | Nebraska | $44,120 | 7.91% | 15.4 | 0.901 | $50,036 |
41 | New Jersey | $63,018 | 7.30% | 15.4 | 1.284 | $49,866 |
42 | Iowa | $48,969 | 5.75% | 17.3 | 0.937 | $46,585 |
43 | D.C. | $62,557 | 0.00% | 14.6 | 1.374 | $45,474 |
44 | Hawaii | $55,733 | 13.75% | 12.9 | 1.636 | $43,804 |
45 | West Virginia | $44,625 | 23.33% | 19.9 | 0.941 | $42,858 |
46 | New Hampshire | $48,934 | 5.81% | 15.1 | 1.188 | $42,089 |
47 | Montana | $44,426 | 7.58% | 16.1 | 1.061 | $40,800 |
48 | North Dakota | $41,354 | 7.75% | 17.2 | 0.949 | $39,981 |
49 | South Dakota | $38,017 | 7.75% | 17.2 | 0.949 | $39,835 |
50 | Vermont | $47,697 | 8.00% | 16.1 | 1.176 | $39,674 |
Median | $48,968 | 9.10% | 14.6 | 1.000 | $55,387 |
Source: http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/spotlights/spotlight-367_teacherpay2009.pdf
Middle and high school students made gains over last year on districtwide math tests but...
failure rates still remain high, Clark County School District officials said today.
In pre-algebra, 36 percent of students passed the test compared to 21 percent last year, a change of 15 percentage points.
Algebra and Algebra II students made 6- to 7-percentage-point improvements, but their overall passing rate was 16 percent to 21 percent.
NV Gov. Jim Gibbons Breaks Taxpayer ProtectionPledge
Governor's Executive Budget Includes 3 Percent Room Tax Hike
WASHINGTON D.C. - Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons recently unveiled his executive budget for the 2009-2011 biennium. Included in the Governor's budget is a 3 percent increase in the state lodging tax, also known as the room tax.
Total state outlays are cut by less than one percent in Gibbons' budget; yet general fund revenue appropriations represent a $340 million increase from the previous biennium. The executive budget also appropriates $80 million from Clark and Washoe Counties over the next budget cycle. Critics contend that this provision poaches tax revenue from other levels of government in order to prop up state spending levels and could lead to tax increases for residents of both counties.
"The room tax hike is a blatant violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge that Gov. Gibbons' signed as a candidate." said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "The Governor and his staff have repeatedly and falsely asserted that it is not a violation of the Pledge if the taxed industry agrees to the hike. The Pledge is a simple one page document that includes no such loopholes or technicalities."
Gibbons has also claimed that he is not breaking his Pledge in raising the room tax since it was approved by Nevada voters last year. In fact, it was not approved by Nevada voters. The teachers' union put the room tax increase on the ballot in only three counties in the entire state last November and was only on as an advisory question. Advisory questions, if approved, do not result in implementation but simply require the legislature to take up the issue in the next legislative session.
"Make no mistake, the Governor's Pledge is a written promise to the citizens of Nevada, not any one organization or person, and the Governor has broken his promise to all Nevadans," added Norquist. "Gov. Gibbons' proposed budget is a slap in the face to taxpayers and all Nevada voters that supported him under that auspices that he was the candidate that would oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes."
"I walked around to the building and saw her sitting there with her feet propped up, just sitting there because that's what she was paid to do, just sit there in case the building was on fire," says parent Patty Mullins.
Contact 13 watched a woman at various times over the course of a week just sitting in her car and found she was indeed being paid to watch a single portable classroom in case it caught on fire.
To be exact, that's $496,818.29 from 7-1-07 to 6-30-08.
The figures they have given us for this school year so far show from 7-1-08 to 12-31-08 an expenditure of $155,581.01, and they're still spending.
"People I have talked to all over the state are terrified of losing their jobs," Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said in beginning her second session as Assembly speaker. "In better times, when we clung to the illusion that our state was recession-proof, we never worried about coping with a 9 percent unemployment rate. Job creation must be one of our top priorities.” (Emphasis added)
I remember an epiphany I had as a child, suffering a muggy South Louisiana summer. "Why," I asked my mother, "can't we just keep the refrigerator door open and then it will REALLY cool the house." In her patient way, she showed me the back-side of the refrigerator, and had me touch the coils. "See how warm they are? The refrigerator takes the heat out of the air but has to dump it somewhere: the heat from the coils is where it goes. If you keep the door open, it will just move the heat right back into the same room."
* $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Dept. of Energy defunded last year because the project was inefficient
* A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film
* $650 million for the digital television (DTV) converter box coupon program
* $248 million for furniture at the new Dept. of Homeland Security headquarters
* $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees
* $1.4 billion for a rural waste disposal programs
* $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities
* $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings
* $500 million for state and local fire stations* $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs
* $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service
* $850 million for Amtrak
* $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint
* $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.
Bad Policy
* Requires a government study on the impact of minimum wage laws on the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
* $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization (slush) Fund to bail out the States by providing billions of dollars for "education" costs of any kind.
* Increases eligibility for "weatherization" assistance to households 200 percent above the poverty level.
* The "Making Work Pay" credit of $500 to every individual making less than $75,000 (or $1000 to couples making $150,000 or less) would pay people whether they are productive or not -- akin to welfare.
* The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - food stamps) would temporarily suspend the 3-month limit for non-working adults to receive SNAP benefits, thus giving incentives not to find a job.
* Installs government as the creator of broadband deployment regardless of whether the specific local/regional market can sustain it.
* Funds new "green jobs" job-training program without eliminating inefficient job-training programs or consolidating duplicative job-training programs.
* $890 million to the Social Security Administration without any provisions to reduce improper payments, or any plan to increase solvency of the trust fund.
State Sen. Bob Coffin recently commented that, “Everything is on the table.” The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Coffin stated, "That is code that any tax that can be raised to balance this budget will be raised or considered—mining, gaming, all industries are vulnerable to the necessities, the urgencies of balancing this budget."
This is precisely the wrong thing to do—especially since Nevada’s government faces a minor 1 percent decrease in spending between this budget and the next. The real crisis is that businesses in Nevada face declining revenues while unemployment is projected to top 11 percent by the end of this year. Businesses in Nevada, now more than at any time in the past, need profits.
Raising taxes doesn't balance the budget, either; in fact, the budget is already balanced. Raising taxes simply increases government spending, and that doesn't always mean better or more productive services from the state. Even at their best, tax increases provide a negative stimulus to Nevada's economy.
We can't rely on Washington to provide the stimulus necessary to get our economy working, either. In fact, their plan is to increase borrowing-ironic considering America is indebted up to its ears. Businesses in Nevada don't need any more debt; they need to increase profits.
One way Bob Coffin could help stimulate Nevada's economy would be to eliminate the Modified Business Tax (MBT), a gross payroll tax on each dollar paid to each worker in the state. All things equal, eliminating the MBT will lead to wage increases and marginal increases in employment. After all, lower costs mean higher profits, which in turn become new capital, allowing expansion of services and the concomitant hiring of new laborers.
Eliminating the MBT would allow Nevada's economy to grow based on the needs of Nevada's residents, not the whims of self-interested policymakers.
Hopes that new faces, new leadership and a new year would bring a new attitude to the Clark County Board of School Trustees have been swiftly squashed. January 2009 proved to be more of the same ole', same ole' for the CCSD board.
On January 8, the board, including its three new board members, approved $2.2 million in architecture fees for the New Elementary School Prototype project. As is so regularly done at CCSD, not one trustee dared to review the contracts prior to voting—not even the new members.
That's not to say that trustees did not have some questions and misgivings. But the board still approved the expenditure without reviewing one contract. To date, the board has approved $8.8 million to architects for the project and no one has looked at a contract—so much for checks and balances.
But blindly spending taxpayers' money was not all the board was up to. It also misled the public, telling people speaking to the board that Nevada's Open Meeting Law (OML) prohibits trustees from conversing with the public regarding non-agenda hearing items. In actuality, that is not true, Moreover, it was precisely this kind of public deception by the CCSD board that led the 1991 Legislature to specifically clarify state law so that there was no doubt that boards could engage in public comment on non-agenda items.
In recent years, CCSD trustees have often spouted nonsense about the OML preventing responses to the public on non-agenda hearings. That tradition of misleading rhetoric continued on January 22, by the newly appointed board president, Terri Janison.
Speakers who raised issues not on the agenda were told by Janison that the OML prevented trustees from speaking to them. One such speaker was told she would have to come back in March in order to be heard. Seeking clarification on how that would work, the speaker was hurried off the podium by Janison, who stated the OML prohibited their conversation.
The Clark County School District knows better than anyone that the OML does not prohibit trustees from conversing with the public—and that, in fact, state law was clarified to encourage such communication. Unfortunately, the public doesn't know this and continues to place its trust in the district's misnamed TRUSTEES.
That this new board is continuing this legacy of deception reveals real leadership problems within the Clark County School District. Board members either have little regard for the law and their obligation to their electors—or, at best, they are terminally naïve and easily dominated by the staff they are supposed to lead.
"When it gets down to it, they [the public] want their services, they want a low tax base and when given the choice between cuts or taxes they don't want either," pollster Del Ali said of the results.
However, when it comes to who is more trusted to handle the budget crisis, the Legislature is in a statistical dead heat with Gibbons. Of those surveyed, 33 percent said they trusted the lawmakers more than Gibbons and 26 percent said they trusted Gibbons more than lawmakers. Forty-one percent said they weren't sure.
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