KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasGrim Stories Come Out of Cash-Strapped Classrooms

Grim Stories Come Out of Cash-Strapped Classrooms

LAS VEGAS -- Teachers across Las Vegas are bracing for Governor Jim Gibbons' State of the State Address. They wonder how much education will be hit -- from class sizes to salary cuts.

Teachers are really nervous about what the budget cuts will mean. They've already had to deal with overcrowded classrooms and less money for supplies, but now some jobs and salaries could be on the chopping block.

Teachers are begging lawmakers to find another way.

In her 13 years as a Clark County School District teacher, Peg Bean has seen a lot. But she says nothing compares to the turmoil the school district faces now.

"It's very difficult to attract people to a state when education is not considered a priority, and it looks like in Nevada, that it is not. And we have a governor who just says no, then education is not a priority," she said. "I'm devastated. This is not the Nevada I want to live in."

The special education teacher says class sizes are already maxed and when it comes to teacher salaries, she says Clark County isn't even competitive.

She's urging lawmakers to find another way.

"We have to consider all of the alternatives and I think some of those alternatives including taxing corporations, taxing mining, looking at other sorts of revenue. Just cutting cannot possibly be the answer," she said.

Unlike Bean, Kerri Stoper has only been teaching for four years. She moved to Las Vegas to teach, but says if salaries or jobs are cut, she may have to pack her bags.

"We all live pretty modestly and if it was significant enough to where I couldn't pay rent and couldn't live day to day, I would have to look at those options," she said.

Her classroom is already dealing with budget problems, including a lack of textbooks. She says right now teachers are doing the best they can with less.

"If there are so many kids in the classroom, it's hard to do that and you just teach the whole group and some kids are, unfortunately, going to miss out on some of the instruction that they need," she said.

Stoper says what Nevada education doesn't need, is any more obstacles.