Nevada Election Issues
Three Steps to Improving Nevada: Transparency, Competition, Accountability
Transparency
Nevada currently budgets approximately 48% of its budget to the school system. The Clark County School District budget is currently $9 Billion per year. This amounts to about $13,000.00 per year per child. Obviously, the problem is not money but how that money is spent. We need to know where those dollars are going. The chart on the right is a flow chart (click to enlarge) which shows how much administration has grown since 1989. Nevada schools have been receiving more money each year, however, this money is not flowing down to the classrooms. The Administration has continually been getting more and more top heavy. I want to know where this money is being spent and I believe the people of Nevada want to know also. Transparency in the school district budget is the first critical step in fixing the broken system. Competition
Clark County is the 5th largest school district in the country. It is too large and too disorganized to run with real transparency and accountability. We need to stop the election year rhetoric about putting children first and then do nothing to help students. We need to expand Charter Schools, home schooling, and allow parents the ability to decide what's best for their children. The reforms in Florida and Arizona have provided promising preliminary results and we should consider implementing some of their reforms. Parents should have options for their children’s education.
Accountability
Nevada currently budgets approximately 48% of its budget to the school system. The Clark County School District budget is currently $9 Billion per year. This amounts to about $13,000.00 per year per child. Obviously, the problem is not money but how that money is spent. We need to know where those dollars are going. The chart on the right is a flow chart (click to enlarge) which shows how much administration has grown since 1989. Nevada schools have been receiving more money each year, however, this money is not flowing down to the classrooms. The Administration has continually been getting more and more top heavy. I want to know where this money is being spent and I believe the people of Nevada want to know also. Transparency in the school district budget is the first critical step in fixing the broken system. Competition
Clark County is the 5th largest school district in the country. It is too large and too disorganized to run with real transparency and accountability. We need to stop the election year rhetoric about putting children first and then do nothing to help students. We need to expand Charter Schools, home schooling, and allow parents the ability to decide what's best for their children. The reforms in Florida and Arizona have provided promising preliminary results and we should consider implementing some of their reforms. Parents should have options for their children’s education.
Accountability
Educational systems in Nevada need greater accountability at all levels. School administrators should be accountable for the quality of education in a school. Teachers should be accountable for the quality of education in the classroom. Transparency in the budgets will account for every dollar spent. Competition between districts will force administrators to be held accountable for wasted money.
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Reducing Taxes and Controlling Spending
The way to increase revenue isn't by raising taxes and user fees, it is by increasing the number of taxpayers in the workforce. We cannot tax our way to prosperity!
For the past 8 years, our current elected officials have told us that there is nowhere to cut the budget and that taxes must be increased. Leonard says it’s time for Nevada citizens to go through the budget with a fine-toothed comb. The "baseline budgeting" process that the state currently uses is completely inadequate for the task that will face lawmakers in the 2013 session. To meet current fiscal challenges while maintaining the quality of essential services, lawmakers will need a new budgeting tool — one allowing them to allocate spending in the manner most efficient for meeting citizen needs. In response to faltering revenues in his state in 2002, then-Washington governor Gary Locke developed an approach he called Priorities of Government. Alternatively known today as "Budgeting for Outcomes" (BFO), Outcome-Based Budgeting or Priority-Based Budgeting, the approach met such success that it has since been adopted in Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina and Louisiana, as well as in local governments across the country.
The premise behind the BFO process is that lawmakers should prioritize the results that they want government to achieve for citizens. Then, after determining the most effective way of purchasing those results, available funds are allocated to do so. In Washington, as in other states where BFO has been implemented, this has implied a rethinking of the structure of government.
Leonard Foster will vote against any tax increase
Every agency must present supporting evidence for every dollar allocated. Every agency must justify every dollar they ask for.
Economic Growth
Low taxes and a business-friendly environment have earned Nevada the reputation as a great place for business. However, recent tax and business fee increases have changed this. Burdening businesses with taxes and fees leads to higher prices, employee layoffs and slower growth.
The government's role in economic growth isn't to create jobs but rather to create a business friendly environment so the private sector will create jobs. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, instead of raising taxes and punishing businesses for hiring new employees we need to grow the tax base and put Nevadans back to work.
Leonard will stop job-killing corporate regulations and tax increases.
We need:
The way to increase revenue isn't by raising taxes and user fees, it is by increasing the number of taxpayers in the workforce. We cannot tax our way to prosperity!
For the past 8 years, our current elected officials have told us that there is nowhere to cut the budget and that taxes must be increased. Leonard says it’s time for Nevada citizens to go through the budget with a fine-toothed comb. The "baseline budgeting" process that the state currently uses is completely inadequate for the task that will face lawmakers in the 2013 session. To meet current fiscal challenges while maintaining the quality of essential services, lawmakers will need a new budgeting tool — one allowing them to allocate spending in the manner most efficient for meeting citizen needs. In response to faltering revenues in his state in 2002, then-Washington governor Gary Locke developed an approach he called Priorities of Government. Alternatively known today as "Budgeting for Outcomes" (BFO), Outcome-Based Budgeting or Priority-Based Budgeting, the approach met such success that it has since been adopted in Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina and Louisiana, as well as in local governments across the country.
The premise behind the BFO process is that lawmakers should prioritize the results that they want government to achieve for citizens. Then, after determining the most effective way of purchasing those results, available funds are allocated to do so. In Washington, as in other states where BFO has been implemented, this has implied a rethinking of the structure of government.
Leonard Foster will vote against any tax increase
Every agency must present supporting evidence for every dollar allocated. Every agency must justify every dollar they ask for.
Economic Growth
Low taxes and a business-friendly environment have earned Nevada the reputation as a great place for business. However, recent tax and business fee increases have changed this. Burdening businesses with taxes and fees leads to higher prices, employee layoffs and slower growth.
The government's role in economic growth isn't to create jobs but rather to create a business friendly environment so the private sector will create jobs. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, instead of raising taxes and punishing businesses for hiring new employees we need to grow the tax base and put Nevadans back to work.
Leonard will stop job-killing corporate regulations and tax increases.
We need:
- Tax cuts to help spur development and job creation
- Improvement in our education system so that we can diversify our economy with a well-educated population of workers.
