WESTERN inA publication for friendstouch & alumni of Western Nevada College Spring 2011 • Volume 15 • Number 1 INSIDE Message from the Chairman Friends & Alumni ...............2 Well, it is every other Spending on higher education is equally bleak. February in the state But I guess the thought process must be, “Hey, we are of Nevada, and what already the lowest in the country so we can’t go any Gifting: Change a Life ..............6 does that mean? A lower. Plus with the crime rate going up in proportion new legislative ses- to education spending going down, we will have all College Happenings ...........10 sion, and a new gov- these well funded prisons to house people in.” ernor. Governor Sandoval’s campaign message spoke Class Notes ...........................12 All I have to say so of education as one of the cornerstones in helping far is “Really, Gov- Nevada get out of this recession. Sounded great, but Foundation News ................13 ernor. Really.” You in the State of the State address, he spoke about cut- propose to take hun- ting education budgets and teacher salaries by an Wild About Wildcats ...........15 dreds of millions out additional 5%. It doesn’t sound too unreasonable of education on top until you realize that is on top of two previous budget Donal Hummer, Jr. of the previous reduc- reductions that now total 35%. Before the budget tions and at the same time you are not decreasing the cuts, Nevada was already the winner of the title of the Welcome to in touch! prison budgets but are actually going to add hundreds lowest per capita spending on education in the United of millions to their budgets. I guess it makes sense, States. Enjoy the updates about trading teachers for guards. We already are the state His comment to the effect that money doesn’t Western. with the lowest per capita spent on K-12 education equate to good education rings a little hollow. I be- in the United States, and that was before the budget Continued on page 2 cuts of the last three years. Proposed Budget Cuts Threaten Your College TO RECEIVE FUTURE ISSUES, A Message from WNC President Carol Lucey E-MAIL US YOUR PREFERENCE: Your college needs your help! In ers across our 18,000-square-mile ser- these tough economic times, we know By mail: To receive in touch in the mail, vice area, and may make it impossible provide your full name and address so that that all Nevadans have been strug- for many residents to earn a college de- gling, and cutting back. At Western gree and enhance or obtain workforce you will continue to receive future issues. Nevada College, we have been reduc- skills. ing costs in all areas of the college for The college community has united Online: To receive in touch as a pdf file, three years to meet the various budget to find ways to continue serving our provide your full name and e-mail address so reductions imposed by the state. students in the face of the past cuts. that we can notify you with our online link to Over the next two years, the cur- Our professors are admitting more future issues of in touch. rent budget proposal for state support students into their classes than ever be- to Western Nevada College cuts our fore, and they are teaching more class E-mail: [email protected], or General Fund support by 31.7%, on top sections. Members of our support staff of cuts already made in each of the last are doing the work of several positions [email protected] three years. These new proposed cuts and all have taken pay cuts. Still, we 775-445-4410 would directly threaten our college’s mission to serve students and employ- Continued on page 13 Keep up to date on Western happenings @ www.wnc.edu - Bookmark it! www.wnc.edu/foundation/ WNC in touch MAGAZINE Spring 2011 1 FRIENDS & ALUMNI Foundation Recognizes Donors Who Support Scholarships WNC Foundation Awards $131,000 WNC Foundation’s Eleventh Annual Scholarship Appreciation & Recogni- tion Reception drew a full house in October. Students expressed thanks to their donors, face to face. Donors learned more about the students whose lives they have changed. The foundation thanks the scholarship donors who enhanced the lives of over 150 students this year. Their generosity and commitment allowed the foundation to fund almost $131,000 of the $140,000 in scholarships awarded for the 2010-11 academic year. View a list of the foundation’s scholarship donors at www.wnc.edu/foundation/ ABOVE: Marv Teixeira with baseball student-athlete RIGHT: Locke and Betty Ray Lesch with nursing student recipient Annie Newman recipients Brooks Klein and Sean Dwyer Message from the Chair Continued from page 1 lieve that the better cliché would be, “you get what educational budgets - then this will no longer be the would rally around our state for the same reasons. you pay for.” These proposed cuts in education, com- exception. Before any of you out there brand me as a tax pounded with the previous cuts, are an absolute rec- The real problem here is not bloated budgets and spend person, the fact of the matter is that I am ipe for disaster. Not only does the future of this state and overpaid kindergarten teachers; it is a lack of a fiscal conservative who finds big bloated govern- rely on our children, Nevada’s very viability is at stake revenue. The plain fact of the matter is that Nevada’s ments that can’t spend within their means (California) here. Without a strong educational system in place, golden goose in the form of gaming tax revenue is nauseating. But that is not what we have here. Ne- new businesses will shy away from coming here and gone, and it is never coming back. Dozens of some of vada is very much like a person who had an oil well those that are here will eventually leave or downsize. this country’s brightest economists have stated time over the last 40 years. And through no fault of its own, Economic growth and prosperity have been tied and again that Nevada’s recession will last a decade the well dried up and the income stopped. Just as the to education time and again. It is an easy correlation; or more, longer than any other state, unless it stops individual would do, Nevada cut back on its expenses good education begets prosperity. A poor and under- solely relying on gaming. Economic recovery to pre- and tightened its belt. But unlike Nevada, the indi- funded education system brings higher crime rates, 2006 economic levels will never happen again. The vidual realized that the well was dry forever and went higher and chronic unemployment, and economic only way to improve our future is to change our rev- out to find a new job and source of income. It is time ruin. enue structure. for Nevada to do the same. The concept of paying for performance has Now I know that “Tax” is a bad word and I am All the talk and sound bytes about Nevada be- many supporters, and the idea is not without merit. surprised that it is not referred to as just the “t” word coming a technological mecca and/or the green en- But it is a two-edged sword. While paying more for in published material. “New Tax” is even more vile. ergy producing state of the country will never happen higher performing teachers makes sense, cutting all I think that with the Nevada Legislature in ses- unless we have smart and well-educated people to teacher salaries in the interim will drive those high sion, an earnest discussion about the elephant in the build and operate these industries. Governor, Legis- performing teachers out of our districts and into other room has to take place. Not in the form of “New” or lators, it is not the time for sound bytes and worry- states. This is because we already have the lowest Additional” or “Higher” T-word, but in the form of re- ing about your future re-election. It is time for strong paid educators in the country. placement tax revenue for the state. We need to look leaders to have the will to do the right thing. Maybe the Governor’s words would mean more at other avenues and areas not for increased taxes but And please, Governor and Legislature, enough if Nevada was like California or some of the eastern for replacement taxes for gaming revenue that has talk about “tough decisions” in cutting education bud- states that have the highest paid educators in the been lost and is never coming back. gets. Cutting is easy and it is the cowardly thing to country, but we don’t. I currently have children in The governor and state legislators need to reach do. This state is becoming like that the man who died Nevada schools and over the years I have met their out to Nevadans and ask them for their help. I think from a thousand cuts. Any one cut was not fatal, but teachers, and worked with the schools. I can say, un- that if they leveled with the residents and businesses all of them together were. It is no different for Ne- equivocally, these teachers are some of the best in the of Nevada about the dire consequences that lie ahead vada; each cut is bringing us closer to the abyss. nation. They are smart, hard working and self moti- without immediate action, Nevadans would support The tough decisions will entail doing the right vated to teach our children to the best of their abili- some form of replacement revenue.