CARSON CITY — Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons signed a proclamation Tuesday calling for a Feb. 23 special session of the Legislature and outlined more details of his plans to close a projected $880 million budget deficit, including more cuts to education that were condemned by at least one Democratic lawmaker.

"These are serious times for the state of Nevada," the Republican governor said during a signing ceremony in his Capitol office.

Gibbons has proposed 10 percent cuts to most state agencies. But his proclamation included additional 1.75 percent salary cuts to public schools and Nevada's university system, and officials said those agencies would have discretion to meet the reductions as they saw fit.

For K-12 education, it amounts to an additional $35 million, for a total of more than $200 million in cuts through the end of the biennium that ends June 30, 2011.

University officials estimate a 10 percent cut would cost them $147 million. The added salary reduction would mean another $9.5 million.

School district officials have said thousands of teachers could lose their jobs, and university and college administrators fear the cuts could mean higher tuition and possible closure of campuses and programs.

"Instead of protecting education and finding ways to reduce the shortfall, the governor actually proposed to increase the cuts," Horsford told The Associated Press late Tuesday.

Lawmakers heard some of the governor's recommendations for the first time, and called the education proposal "honestly very disturbing," he said.

"I think that the governor's approach drives the state economy into a full blown depression," Horsford said.

The Legislature's Interim Finance Committee has been holding hearings and town hall meetings to get public comment on the budget mess. The IFC meets again Thursday to discuss the governor's updated proposals.

The proclamation, which sets the agenda lawmakers must consider, can and likely will be amended in the coming days and even after lawmakers convene, the governor said.

"We're feeling our way through this," Gibbons said. "This is not so etched in concrete we can't make a change down the road."

Gibbons also called for four, 10-hour work weeks for most agencies and increasing employee furloughs from eight hours per month to 10. That change would equate to salary reductions of 5.7 percent, up from 4.6 percent lawmakers passed in 2009.

Gibbons still proposes closing the 140-year-old Nevada State Prison in Carson City and laying off 227 state workers.

His proclamation also includes striking state collective bargaining laws to free local governments from binding union contracts as they deal with their own budget shortfalls and removing public school mandates for full-day kindergarten and class size reduction.

Public school officials have said thousands of teachers statewide could lose their jobs.

Though not part of his proclamation, Gibbons on Tuesday also proposed capping deductions taken by the mining industry, a move the administration said could generate $50 million in the current budget.

A staunch no-tax governor, Gibbons characterized the proposal as closing "inadvertent loopholes."

"These are not new taxes," he said, but, "simply clarifying the deductions they are allowed to take."

Tim Crowley, president of the Nevada Mining Association, called the governor's proposal flawed.

"We hadn't discussed it with anybody," he said. "I do think as the Legislature and the governor look at the deductions they are taking from our industry, they'll realize that by doing so they'll be including operating expenses in the calculation of our property values.

A petition initiative backed by Progressive Leadership of Nevada, or PLAN, seeks to amend the state constitution and require mining companies to pay taxes of at least 5 percent of their gross proceeds. The current tax is limited to 5 percent of net proceeds after most expenses are deducted.

The industry can deduct 100 percent of its costs for marketing, operations and other expenses, officials said. The administration wants to cap those allowances to a certain percentage yet to be determined.

Gibbons is also banking on $30 million in the next fiscal year from InsureNet, a Chicago company that has proposed setting up a camera system along state highways to catch uninsured vehicles. Administration officials estimate 22 percent of motorists on Nevada roadways lack state-mandated insurance.

And the administration seeks to "sweep" more than 50 non-general fund accounts from agencies to add $90 million to general fund coffers in the upcoming fiscal year.