Public Comment: NSEA Asks Legislators to Dig Deep to Address Budget Challenges

Today is April 15, Tax Day in non-pandemic times. This is a great day to talk about the importance of generating the revenue necessary to provide the services relied on by Nevada’s families. And for NSEA, we often talk about the importance of funding public education.

In February, hundreds of educators in red scarves and face coverings convened in Carson City, lining the street from the Legislative building to the Capitol asking you to dig deep to address our budget challenges. After sustaining difficult cuts in the 31st Special Session last summer, K12 public education is threatened this session with difficult general fund cuts. This includes a proposed $33M cut to the Read by Grade 3 program, which provides critical early literacy supports, and $156M in proposed cuts to class size reduction, despite already having the largest class sizes in the nation. Emergency assistance from the American Rescue Plan will certainly help schools address pandemic-related issues, but these funds are one-time and will expire in 2023. Ranking near the bottom of states in per-pupil funding, Nevada’s public schools and other vital services deserve new state revenue, not just continued austerity.

NSEA believes AJR1, passed in the 32nd Special Session, would be a strong start.

AJR1 would generate $485 million in new revenue for Nevada annually. SB346 to establish parity for the digital version of products subject to sales tax is still alive in the Senate. As the emerging economy increasingly moves to digital format, SB346 closes a loophole in the collection of sales tax, which is only applied to the purchase of physical products. Together, AJR1 and SB346 make a strong revenue package to move Nevada on the correct course to address our chronic revenue shortfalls.

Educators have been calling on our leaders to Invest in Nevada for years, and now is the time to take bold steps to meet our state’s needs. We need our leaders to have the courage to stand up and demand new and progressive revenue to move Nevada up from the bottom of the education funding lists. We believe our Legislature and this committee have the opportunity to advance a package of revenue proposals to take a big and bold step in addressing our funding challenge.