Government Spending
Recent News
The funding folly
State Sen. Mike Schneider has introduced legislation that would require Nevada's per-pupil spending level to meet the "national average." He assumes that increased education spending will improve the quality of Nevada education because it will allow new schools to be built, teacher salaries to be raised and supplies to be purchased.
A more reasonable road
According to the Urban Mobility Report, from Texas A&M's Texas Transportation Institute, the average commuter in Las Vegas will face 30 hours of traffic delays over the course of a year - almost an entire work week wasted in traffic. As Nevada continues to grow, congestion and pollution problems will mount unless the increasing demand for road capacity is met.
Spending for spending’s sake
Many believe that increasing per-pupil spending will improve education in Nevada and that Nevada spending per student ranks only 43rd in the nation. These individuals further assume that our public schools' low achievement and ostensibly low spending must be linked.
Setting up the 2011 spending spree
Despite the ravages of recession, Carson City appears to be exuding an air of optimism. The big buzz around the legislature concerns the potential new taxes on Nevadans and all the new government programs those new taxes will allow lawmakers to create, assuming an eventual economic recovery.