Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

School voucher plan passed by panel

CARSON CITY -- With only three weeks left in the Legislature's session, a controversial plan that would make a dramatic change to the public school system is inching forward.

Senate Bill 223 would allow the state for the first time to pay for students to go to private and religious-based schools in Nevada. The bill was approved by a 4-3 party line vote in the Senate Human Resources and Education Committee, with Democrats opposed.

Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, said the bill provides a "good option" for parents who want to send their children to nonpublic schools or to transfer to another public school. It's in line with the federal No Child Left Behind act, he said.

Under the bill, students at failing schools, as defined by federal law, would have the option of going to private schools, including religious schools. The state would pay tuition up to the amount it gives the school district in per pupil funding. For this school year, the state gave the Clark County School District $4,202 per pupil with an additional $50 for textbooks.

The bill is now before the Senate Finance Committee, where it received support from members of the conservative Independent American Party. Janine Hansen, an officer of the IAP, told the committee Thursday it would reduce costs for education and result in better students.

Tuitions at private schools, she said, is less than costs at public schools. In addition, she said, it would result in fewer social problems.

David Schumann of the IAP told the committee that passing SB223 "will lower the number of children being dumbed down by government schools."

Craig Kadlub, director of government affairs for the Clark County School District, told the committee that the district could lose $31 million in tax support "in a worst case scenario."

The bill would permit up to 29,000 students in Clark County to opt out to attend a "voucher" school.

"A reduction in students doesn't mean an automatic reduction in costs," Kadlub said Friday, noting that all Clark County schools would remain open and they would have to be heated and air-conditioned. There would still be bus transportation required, even if two or three students left.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, chairman of the Finance Committee, has not said when and if the committee will ever take a vote on SB223.

Even if it gets out of the Republican-controlled Senate, its future in the Democratic Assembly is dark. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchiglani, D-Las Vegas, vice chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, said it had no chance of getting approval from that committee.

Legislative Counsel Brenda Erdoes, in a legal opinion issued to Sen. Washington, said she cannot "conclude with any certainty" whether the voucher school proposal is constitutional in Nevada. But she added that the bill "presents a constitutionally defensible approach because it is limited to students who are enrolled in failing school and to students from low-income families."

She said the program does not directly provide state aid to religious schools because it is not restricted to religious schools, and a parent must make an individual choice which private school the child will attend. Included in the bill is a section that a student would not be required to take part in religious activities.

The state has a system for financing public schools called the Distributive School Fund. And it is based an amount of funding per pupil depending on the district the student is in. That amount would be transferred to the private school or it could be a lesser amount if the tuition at the voucher school is lower.

In addition, the bill would provide that the state would give $500 to parents to home-school their child in grammar school and $1,000 a year for a high school student.

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