Nevada legislators rejected a proposal from Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to funnel COVID-19 relief funds into the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, which provides public funds to hundreds of families in the state to be used for private school tuition.
The governor had requested $3.2 million in additional money for the eight-year-old program, saying that hundreds of children would lose their scholarships within weeks due to a lack of funding, forcing them to return to public schools.
Lawmakers concluded that the funding crisis had been created by and should be solved by one of the six private agencies authorized to manage the state-funded scholarships, which had taken advantage of a loophole in the system to gain all of the available scholarship funds for the upcoming school year.
The decision came after an emotional 12-hour session of the state’s bicameral Interim Finance Committee on Aug. 9, where lawmakers at times appeared confused by the provisions of the Opportunity Scholarship Program and vowed to reform the system in the next legislative session.
Mr. Lombardo, who has been an advocate for school choice, proposed expanding the Opportunity Scholarship program by $50 million this year. The idea gained no traction with the state’s Democrat lawmakers and was not considered in two special legislative sessions called by the governor this summer.
The governor then announced a crisis in funding for the program, asking for the use of $3.2 million in unused COVID-19 relief funds to ensure that several hundred students would not lose their scholarships in the upcoming school year.
Ben Kieckhefer, the governor’s chief of staff, stated his case to the committee, emphasizing the need to keep faith with children who have already been enrolled in the scholarship program.
“Hundreds of students have been left behind by the failure to adequately fund the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program.
Public Interest
The hearing drew significant public attention, including more than two hours of public testimony from parents, students, and other members of the public.Proponents of school choice programs said they do not drain money away from public schools but want to support families who believe their child would benefit from an alternative educational experience.
“It’s not a matter of taking money away from the public schools. When a student moves to from a public school to a private or charter school. That expense for that student doesn’t exist anymore, so the money should follow the child,” Maxine Nietz of Carson City told the committee.
At the same time, Ms. Nietz and others complained that Nevada public schools were failing to provide an adequate education for children.
“The system is failing them,” Ms. Nietz said. “And we need to be able to provide scholarship opportunities or charter schools or whatever is necessary.”
“Opportunity scholarships ransom kids held hostage by educational zip codes that have poor schools,” Cindy Martinez of Nevada Assembly District 13 told the committee.
Julia Munson, 17, was one of several students who testified before the committee. Julia said attending a private school through an Opportunity Scholarship helped her academically and emotionally.
“I attend public school until the 6th grade. I didn’t do well there. Now my grades are better. I have been able to grow relationships with teachers and classmates.”
Some parents, like Sita Arias, expressed fear for the safety of their children if they were to return to a public school.
Ms. Arias said her 11-year-old son was thriving in private school but would be forced to return to a public school with a “high degree of violence” if the scholarship program were not funded.
Tom Wellman, a retired teacher from Las Vegas, acknowledged that Nevada public schools need help and implored the committee to spend any available resources there rather than in private schools.
Flawed System
Committee Democrats rejected the notion that the vote was a referendum on the value of school choice. They pictured it instead as a failure to properly administer available funds.Sen. Rochelle Nguyen (D-Las Vegas) objected to the use of COVID-19 funding to prop up a program that is not working properly.
“If we approve this one-time money of $3.2 million for this year, then we have to figure out how to do this next year because we still have this broken system with no accountability,” she said.
Others questioned why the funding shortfall had not been made known during two special sessions of of the legislature, which had recently concluded.
“Within less than 30 days, we got hit with this issue. And the first thing that popped up in my mind was if this was such a serious consideration that we needed to deal with and why wasn’t dealt with in the special [session]? Why didn’t we deal with it in the two specials?”
Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) said the root problem is that, due to a flaw in the way the program is structured, it was possible for one scholarship organization to claim the lion’s share of the funding for the coming year, leaving others with inadequate money to continue serving their existing scholarship students.
“I think it wasn’t brought up because we had something happen here that was unforeseeable, which is one organization took all the money.
“We could not have known that was going to happen during the legislative session,” Mr. Yeager said, referring to Florida-based AAA Scholarship Foundation.
Others pointed out that organizations are encouraged to hold reserve funds in order to continue providing scholarships for students already enrolled in the program.
“We know that the organization AAA was planning for the long term, and that’s why they have those reserves. And there are actually two other organizations that have more reserves because they were planning for the long term,” said Sen. Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno), who argued that the committee should grant the $3.2 million in additional funding.
Committee Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno said the decision was in the interest of stewarding taxpayer dollars.
“It pains me to have to make this decision, but my job as the chair of [Interim Finance Committee], the chair of Ways and Means, is to make a fiscally responsible decision for the state of Nevada,” she said.
“We heard tonight from AAA Scholarship that they would be willing to work with the other students and make sure that those students are made whole ... the returning students, and I pray that they do.”
“There is a failure in the process that we must fix,” Ms. Monroe-Moreno said.
“If I’m blessed to go back to Carson City in 2025, I hope that you all that return with me and will work to fix this problem so that we never, never in this position again.”
