The Nevada State Education Association has been the voice of Nevada educators for over 120 years. For decades, NSEA has led the charge against chronic underfunding of public education in Nevada, from the instigation of the IP1 room tax in 2008 and qualification of the Education Initiative in 2014 to our 5 major Red for Ed rallies in Carson City in recent years. NSEA’s efforts have been a large part of creating a social and political consensus – Nevada needs to invest significantly more in public education.
On April 23, 2021, the Commission on School Funding published Preliminary Recommendations Regarding Optimal Funding. While NSEA opposed SB543, we largely agreed with the funding targets set in this document, including your proposal to reach “adequate” funding by increasing education investment by $2B over the next 10 years.
That’s why NSEA called for the passage of AJR1, the mining tax that would have generated over $400M. Instead, a new tax on gross revenues of mining was adopted to generate an estimated $85M/year. These monies will be added to the new education funding plan along with $70M/year in existing net proceeds starting in 2023. For the current biennium, while better-than-projected state revenue was used to backfill general fund cuts, total per-pupil funding actually decreased by $115 from FY21 to FY22. And since the end of the Legislative Session, inflation has been over 5%, further devaluing current education funding.
In April 2021, the Funding Commission recommended over $200M in additional funding for education every year. It is clear Nevada is falling short of what is needed to reach adequacy, especially with increased costs.
It seems the Funding Commission not only has work to do to reconcile actual numbers against your April 2021 recommendations but also to make recommendations to get Nevada on track towards adequate funding moving forward and to have those recommendations seriously considered. Meanwhile, NSEA looks forward to continuing to lead the charge against chronic underfunding of public education
