EDITORIAL: Dangerous fake proposal taunts, discourages

January 11, 2010 by The Rebel Yell 

No one really thinks Republican governor Jim Gibbons’ proposal to cut K-12 education funding and restructure state-level governance of schools will pass the Democratic state legislature.

The plan is unsupported with meaningful data. At least one of Gibbons’ suggestions – that funding for class-size reduction is useless and should be eliminated – is simply a comical oversight of the facts, which show that such efforts have failed in Nevada specifically because they were under-funded.

But Gibbons has no reason to be concerned that his proposal lacks a reasonable defense, since it is highly unlikely that the special legislative session he plans to call to discusss the issue will allow time to even scratch the surface of this complex issue.

But Gibbons isn’t worried, because he doesn’t actually care whether the plan is accepted. It’s all just an elaborate attempt to attract the attention of the political Right in time for the November 2 gubernatorial election.

See, Nevadans hate Gibbons – probably because he openly supports plans to slash education at every turn, placing in jeopardy the very foundations of Nevada’s future – so he has little to lose by cutting to chase and groveling at the feet of the conservative core of the electorate, who represent his only chance at re-election.

But Nevada has everything to lose.

Politics affect people, whether bills pass or not. Gibbons’ suggestions are dangerous, not because they threaten to become reality, but because the already wounded spirit of this region to fight for the rights of good education stands to be desensitized to the regular subission of senseless, heartless political proposals that risk the future of the state for the sake of a single man’s career.

Nevada’s school districts are tired and worn from years of struggle against the inertia of the shortsighted and the self-serving in the state legislature, who would see our children shoved again and again onto the back burner.

Tragically, the repeated blows with which Gibbons has pummeled Nevada’s education system have left their victims numb to the abuse.

In spring of 2009, it took the Nevada System of Higher Education’s then-chancellor Jim Rogers publicizing a fake proposal to raise college tuition by 50 percent to get students out of their seats to fight. So accustomed are students, parents and educators to their needs being under-funded afterthoughts that nothing less than cataclysm can make us think we have much to lose.

We aren’t angry because Gibbons says he wants to cut funding for all-day kindergarten and the reduction of class sizes, or because his plans would limit collective bargaining. We’re not even angry because he wants to have the seats on the state Board of Education appointed instead of elected and to appoint the superintendent himself (though we admit that level of neglect of reason would be troubling in anyone, least of all our governor).

What’s got us re-lighting the torches of last year’s rallies is the fact that Gibbons has the nerve to throw around Nevada’s children like bargaining chips in his pitiful appeal to the right wing.

In a place where we already struggle to keep the spirit of rebellion alive in the face of those who expect us to go down without a fight, we cannot afford to allow anyone to tease us with empty threats.

Find another obscene proposal to get the attention of your rapidly fleeting fans, Gibbons. The students of this state have had enough of your disregard.