Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sandoval promoted Tesla’s education payment, but it’s left out of bills

Tesla Factory Announcement

Cathleen Allison / AP

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and Gov. Brian Sandoval shake hands after a press conference at the Capitol in Carson City on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014, in which Nevada was announced as the new site for a $5 billion car battery gigafactory.

When he presented the Tesla deal, Gov. Brian Sandoval announced that the electric car maker would send $37.5 million to Nevada's public schools.

The education contribution was a way for Tesla and the governor to show their commitment to Nevada's school system, one of the worst in the nation, even as the company scored more than $1 billion in tax breaks.

But lawmakers learned today that Tesla's education payment won't be spelled out in any of the four bills the Legislature votes on this week.

The Sandoval administration estimates Tesla will bring 22,000 workers, and their children, to Nevada within the next decade. That's prompted worries from some lawmakers about whether public services — including schools — can keep pace.

Sandoval and Tesla tried to address those concerns with the $37.5 million in payments over five years beginning in 2018. Sandoval also said Tesla would put $1 million toward battery research at UNLV.

Steve Hill, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, called Tesla's education payment "charitable contributions” and said they won’t be in legislation.

While $37.5 million may sound like a lot of money, it's not much in the context of what it costs to run Nevada's schools. The annual payment would be $7.5 million for five years. In just the Clark County School District, that's .4 percent of the district's annual $2.1 billion budget.

During hearings on the Tesla deal, Democratic lawmakers said they were frustrated that education hadn't been a higher priority in the special session.

Sen. Justin Jones, a Las Vegas Democrat, lobbied to renew a school bond program that would have helped Clark County schools.

Jones asked Sandoval to list the bond program on the special session agenda on Tuesday. Sandoval declined.

Jones said four of the state’s most overcrowded schools are in his district. “It’s a crisis,” he said.

Tesla’s contribution of $37.5 million “doesn’t build classrooms,” said Sen. Debbie Smith, a Sparks Democrat.

“We are sitting here right now taking no action on what can be done,” she said.

Hill was peppered by Jones and Smith on the Senate floor today.

Smith asked Hill what he would do about education.

Education is not policy his office “deals with,” Hill said. During an interview today, Hill added that education and economic development work “hand-in-hand.” Educated workers need jobs and businesses need educated workers, he said.

“What we’re doing here is going to be beneficial in both aspects," he said.

Tesla sent Sandoval and lawmakers a letter Thursday highlighting its promise to donate the $37.5 million. The $1 million to UNLV wasn’t mentioned.

“We at Tesla are excited at the prospect of forming a partnership with Nevada’s K-12 public education system,” Diarmuid O’Connell, Tesla Motors vice president of business and corporate development, wrote to Sandoval.

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