By Dan Mason

A new Spending and Government Efficiency Commission (SAGE) has been formed in Nevada. Their stated goal is to “identify waste and inefficiency in Nevada’s K-12 education system.”

I’ll just say it right up front. I lack optimism.

My first thought would be to wonder why we have a state board of education as well as local school boards if they are incapable of identifying such things without the need for a special commission, especially one that doesn’t appear to be very well stacked with objective minds. A pessimist may presume those folks are more focused on “more money for education” rather than an objective viewpoint.

We’ve been down the SAGE Commission road before. In 2008 then Governor Jim Gibbons created it as the great recession was in full bloom, but with a much broader purpose: Identify state expenses that could be eliminated or reduced, BEFORE considering tax increases to resolve the severe budget issues we faced at that time. The make-up of that commission was quite good. It consisted of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans and a variety of business people, none of whom as I understand did business with state government. Translation: No conflict of interest. Most importantly it was not paid for with your tax dollars.

This new SAGE Commission is paid for with tax dollars, and according to critics such as activist and publisher of Citizen Outreach Chuck Muth and Nevada Assemblyman Ira Hansen, is stacked with members who favor Governor Sandoval’s education tax increase, and some with a clear conflict of interest, including the chairman of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, an organization that reportedly received one-third of its operating money in 2014 from the state.  I presume that money wouldn’t be considered as potentially wasteful even if it was under review.

I’m all for examining waste and inefficiency in government. I believe there is plenty that can be found, be it in Washington D.C. or in Carson City. I don’t for a second believe it will truly happen to the degree it should.

The final report from the original SAGE Commission was delivered in 2010. They did excellent work in my opinion. Read their final report here:   They offered 44 recommendations with potential savings of some $2 over five years. As I recall, not very many of them were implemented.

Even the most optimistic among us has to wonder if the end result of this commission will be any different.