Editorial: Paying for schools

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007 | 6:46 a.m.

As the debate begins over the state teachers union's proposal to raise gaming taxes to fund education, the question that should be asked is: Who, ultimately, should be responsible for funding public schools?

That is a sensitive question in a state that prides itself on its low taxes because it acknowledges a basic truth: Someone has to pay for educating Nevada's children.

The Nevada State Education Association thinks the gaming industry is one answer and promises to pursue an initiative question that would raise the gaming tax by 3 percentage points. The money collected from it would go toward improving education and teacher pay.

The initiative proposal raises a number of important questions about the way Nevada funds education as well as how the state tax system works - or doesn't work. Unfortunately, a fight over the initiative will likely only yield sound bites.

The union says the gaming industry, with record profits, can help the underfunded schools. The casinos have responded by bashing the proposal, saying they will not continue to invest significantly here if they have to pay such a tax.

What should be debated and handled by Gov. Jim Gibbons and the next Legislature is a way to make the state's tax system, which hangs precariously on the fluctuations of tourism, more stable and fairly spread among all businesses. However, Gibbons' no-new-taxes pledge makes it nearly impossible to meet the needs of this growing state.

The Legislature had a chance to fix the tax system in 2003 after a blue-ribbon commission reported that the best way to do so would be a broad-based tax plan. Under incredible pressure from the business lobby, which refused to help reform the system, lawmakers declined to make the necessary sweeping changes. Instead, they went for the quick fix and passed a piecemeal plan of incremental tax increases.

Four years later Nevada is still in the same place. Our schools are still underfunded and underachieving, and the state is no closer to fixing them. Picking on one industry may be popular, but in the end, we are all responsible for our children's education.