Opinion: Sandoval stands by plan to lay off 5,000 teachers

Brian Sandoval emerged from his bunker yesterday to defend his plan to lay off one in five Nevada teachers on “Face to Face” with Jon Ralston.

Sandoval repeatedly defended his short-term deficit “plan,” which calls for raiding $110 million from class-size reduction funds, laying off of one in five Nevada teachers and new deep cuts to our higher education system.

Sandoval doubled down on his plan to make further massive cuts to our education system, despite the fact that only 42 percent of Nevada high schools graduate from high school and Nevada ranks dead last in the nation in education rankings.

Perhaps most astonishing was Sandoval’s misunderstanding of his own plan. “There has never been a discussion about me moving class-size reduction money to the general fund,” he said. In fact, that is exactly what Sandoval said in his “plan.” It reads: “The sixth proposal diverts $110 million from the Clark County School District portion of the state class size reduction program to the state general fund.”

Sandoval is not who he says he is. Despite what his own written plan says, Sandoval insisted on statewide television that he does not seek to eliminate class-size reduction funds. Perhaps his passion for cutting education is why Ralston wryly noted that the Republican is an “imitation of Jim Gibbons.”

In truth, Sandoval wants to continue Gibbons’ shameful legacy of slashing school funding. It was Gibbons who cut $300 million from our schools and stood by as more than 60,000 Nevada students dropped out of school.

Sandoval wants to carry that legacy and push an even more extreme education agenda. During his appearance on “Face to Face,” Sandoval also continued to push his plan for vouchers, which would drain even more money from our schools and wouldn’t cover private school tuition for Nevada’s middle class families.

Rory Reid is the only candidate for governor to offer solutions for today and a plan for Nevada’s future success–supporting strong schools for a stronger economy. For more information about his campaign or to download his plans, visit Rory2010.com.

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