Sandoval vetoes Democratic education spending bill

CARSON CITY -- Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval on Monday vetoed a Democratic spending bill that would have pushed the state's K-12 education spending for 2011-13 about $700 million higher than the governor originally proposed.

The spending was contained in Assembly Bill 568, which would spend about $2.8 billion in general fund money on public schools in the next two years.

That's about $714 million more than Sandoval proposed in his original budget, which was built around a promise not to increase taxes, and $660 million more than a revised budget that included changes based on higher-than-expected tax revenue.

"While all of us would like more money to spend, we must also accept that education funding cannot occur in a vacuum," Sandoval wrote in a veto message.

"Current economic realities require that we spend only the money we have, while allowing for the additional funding of education as the economy continues to improve."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.