Morrison: The Rest Of The Story

(Jim Clark) – A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column titled “Morrison’s Glitter Is Tarnishing.”   The purpose was to point out that our Washoe County school superintendent had publicly sided with the AFL/CIO and Nevada’s Democratic Legislative Caucus in urging Gov. Sandoval not to veto Assembly Bill 183.   This bill was seen by GOP legislators as an effort to sabotage the Sandoval budget which utilizes $300 million in idle bond reserve funds for teachers’ salaries.  The purpose of AB183 was to earmark the funds for school construction thereby forcing (they thought) Sandoval to raise taxes (this despite Washoe County school enrollment declining for each of the last 3 years).  The governor vetoed the bill and no Republican solons will support a veto override so it’s back to square one.

The column triggered strong written responses from two “lifelong Republicans,” Reno residents Daryl Drake and Mike Cate.  Both responses were published in prominent places in the Bonanza.  Drake and Cate claimed that AB183 was not a Democratic plot to undermine the governor because they had been working with Assemblywoman Debbie Smith (D – Sparks) for two years to get the funds freed up for school construction and maintenance.

I was subsequently invited by Dr. Morrison to a “peace conference.”  Last Tuesday the two of us enjoyed a cordial, leisurely breakfast together and he explained the reason for his very public support of AB183.  So, as Paul Harvey would say, Bonanza readers will now get “the rest . . . of the story.”

Morrison supported the measure because in Washoe County school construction funds can only come from proceeds of school bonds which, in general, can only be issued after approval by voters.  A school bond election requires a full-fledged campaign to win voters’ approval as opposed to asking legislators for operating funds every two years.  Morrison felt that if the funds were diverted to pay operating costs it would take years to replenish them.  Point taken.

We went on to discuss aspects of Gov. Sandoval’s education reform plan.  Although Morrison does not support school vouchers, he is enthusiastic about many aspects of the plan and is in the process of implementing many of its parts.  This should please Republicans.  He is instilling in his principals a spirit of competition, an awareness of whether they are losing students to alternative education sources, and an attitude of enterprise such that they will go out of their way to encourage parents and students to want to attend their facility.  He also plans a “parents’ college” so parents can learn how best to support their children’s learning.

Morrison also embraces a concept of empowerment schools by allowing principals to earn increased independence in management and resource allocation as their students improve in achievement.  For Incline he favors a close liaison with Sierra Nevada College, maximizing courses that earn both high school and college credits.

So Morrison’s support for AB183 was not so much political as it was protecting his turf.  The case of the two “lifelong Republicans,” Mssrs. Drake and Cate, is a little different.  They may have set out working on the bond legislation two years ago, but their commanding general, Governor Sandoval, and the army fighting the war, the Republican legislators, made abrupt policy changes in response to unparalleled financial challenges and are now determined to find every spare shekel to avoid raising taxes.

AB183 would have been a nuclear bomb.  The situation is reminiscent of the Bridge Over the River Kwai where different units of the British Army inadvertently got themselves at cross purposes from lack of communication.  The rule is: the commanding general commands and we followers salute.

In any case, Dr. Morrison has earned some of his glitter back.

(Jim Clark is President of Republican Advocates, a vice chair of the Washoe County GOP and a member of the Nevada GOP Central Committee.  He can be reached at tahoesbjc@aol.com.)