Public Comment: Commission on School Funding

NSEA thanks this Commission for your thoughtful and thorough engagement on one of the most important issues in Nevada. We attend many Board, Committee, and Commission meetings, mostly focused on public education. However, in the last year and a half, we also have been regularly engaging meetings of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, because in Nevada, there is an overriding question of priorities.

Yesterday, we told the Stadium Authority about a powerful story run by News 4 in Reno about the school lunch debt at the Washoe County School District. Debt there has grown to $45,000 with fewer students accessing school lunches, indicating children in Nevada may be going hungry.

We also told the Authority about Joe Lombardo's veto of AB319 to provide free meals to all  Nevada students. In terms of priorities, we tried to impress upon them that this was done a day after signing SB1 into law, moving $380M in public funds to a California billionaire. Not surprisingly, our comments didn’t have much of an impact, as the stadium project was moved forward with no discussion from Stadium Authority Board members.

So back to the thoughtful work of this Commission. While you have picked up many other responsibilities along the way, your most important charge has been to identify optimal funding and a method to fully fund that within 10 years. For the next biennium, your recommendation requires an additional $604M.

With tempered budget projections from the Economic Forum earlier this month, stepping up education funding will require significantly more political effort than last session. Increased investment in out years, with economic uncertainty, will require passing new revenue like your proposals on sales and property tax. And that is why NSEA has been calling the question on  Nevada priorities. Last session we framed the question as schools versus stadiums. With limited new resources, this upcoming session may be about schools versus studios. Outgoing Commissioner Johnson’s reference to “the children are the future” indicates NSEA and this Commission may have agreement on the answer.