Recent rulings in teacher salary disputes put arbitration on Legislature’s radar screen

Las Vegas Sun ^ | 5/13/2012 | By Anjeanette Damon (contact)

[redreno]

A budget is not just a plan to spend money. It’s a statement of priorities — a paper-and-ink manifesto of what an elected official or board believes is important.

In an ideal world, the budget matches a politician’s campaign promises. And if it doesn’t, the public can decide whether to vote the person out.

But what happens when a major portion of a public budget is put in the hands of someone who isn’t elected and isn’t subject to the decisions of an elected board?

Such is the case when a labor dispute heads to arbitration. And in the aftermath of two recent cases in which arbitrators were handed cases with multimillion-dollar implications, some are questioning where the accountability lies.

[Zakeet]

Most states follow the doctrine of "sovereign immunity," i.e. that money cannot be appropriated without the expressed of the sovereign (Congress). In other words, they cannot be sued without their consent.

If Nevada follows this precedence, then any arbitrator's award can be repudiated without consequence.

Thus, it is likely we are getting a bureaucratic whitewashing from the non-elected school superintendent ... who is trying to make his own job easier without regard to the best interests of the institutions and taxpayers he purportedly serves.