By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Hundreds of parents, teachers and other concerned community members are gathering in Las Vegas this afternoon to send a message to our governor. And that message is: don't bury education with budget cuts.
Bonanza High School is just one of four locations in both Southern and Northern Nevada where simultaneous candlelight vigils were held Wednesday afternoon.
Nevadans For Quality Education organized the events to protest looming budget cuts to public education.
Governor Jim Gibbons announced this week that given Nevada's economic downturn, grades K through 12 will not be spared from the chopping block as was originally planned.
“This is devastating because the district is already in a cut mode. So what programs are going to be cut? What do you eliminate now that you're in the middle,” asked principal Cathy Conger.
Clark County School District superintendent Walt Rulffes estimates nearly $100 million in cuts would be made under the governor's current plan to slash the budget by 4.4-percent. And Rulffes says that's a blow our fast-growing school district cannot afford to take — especially given our on-going teacher shortage and already large class sizes.
“If these cuts are actually implemented, I'll have to go into the programs and that's going to harm education. I think the entire community should be up in arms about this. Our community and our students deserve better than this kind of reduction in service to its students,” said Rulffes.
He added, “Some of the initial suggestions are to hold off on funding more empowerment schools and full-day kindergarten, because those programs are not yet implemented, so these would be less painful.”
Rulffes is in Carson City – meeting with Nevada's 16 other school superintendents to map out a strategy for how to best deal with the proposed cuts.
Wednesday's protests at Bonanza High, Greenspun Middle School and in Northern Nevada will call on parents, teachers and other concerned community members to contact the governor's office and their state lawmakers to tell them how you feel about the proposed cuts to education.
Email your comments to Reporter Alyson McCarthy.
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