By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Some Nevada lawmakers are deeply unhappy with last week’s arbitration ruling that will force the financially beleaguered Clark County School District to give pay raises to some teachers while laying off others, and are considering legislation to prevent such reckless decisions in the future.

The school district – the fifth largest in the nation – is facing a $63 million deficit, and will likely have to lay off hundreds of young teachers in order to give older teachers the required raises.

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The layoffs will mean larger class sizes and reduced opportunities for students.

State Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, wants to end the practice of binding arbitration, which empowers an arbitrator to resolve collective bargaining disputes between school districts and teacher unions. Under state law, the arbitrator must rule completely in favor of the district or the union.  Compromises are not permitted.

Roberson “will reintroduce bills next year to end binding arbitration and allow school boards to make the final decisions on salary increases for employees,” reports the Las Vegas Review Journal. “His proposal would allow the Clark County Commission and other elected bodies to have the final say on salaries.”

“This is not an attack on unions but a common sense proposal,” Roberson told the Review Journal. “What happened Wednesday is a perfect example of why it is needed. You have to put the full blame on the teacher unions.”

Roberson acknowledges that his proposal will be dead on arrival if Republicans don’t regain control of the state legislature in November. Democrats refused to consider a similar bill during the most recent legislative session, the paper reports.

Not only does binding arbitration take power away from elected school board members, but the arbitration process pressures school officials into making contract offers that strain their district’s budgets.  They go in with an overly generous offer, simply because the union’s demands are usually far more expensive and would have ruinous effects on the district’s ability to serve students. School officials reason that victory through a budget-straining offer is preferable to the union’s budget-busting demands.

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Either way, the arbitration process rewards the teachers unions for being intractable. Roberson rightly believes this process needs to end, if Nevada’s school districts are ever to regain control of their budgets and prioritize student needs, instead of the financial demands of the adult employees.