Nevada’s legislature enacted the most sweeping voucher legislation in the nation. The state courts have affirmed its constitutionality, although last September the Supreme Court of Nevada struck down the funding portion of the voucher program. Meanwhile, the state continues to send out applications for “education savings accounts” as though the latest ruling from the highest court never happened.

 

It was an odd ruling. Figure out the logic here:

 

The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the state’s education savings account law, ruling that while the premise of using taxpayer money for private education was constitutional, the method used to fund the ESA program was not.

 

The high court ordered a permanent injunction against the law — viewed as the most sweeping school choice legislation in the country — that was passed last year on a party-line vote by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

 

What is especially odd about the ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court is that the state constitution of Nevada has clear, explicit prohibitions against spending public money on sectarian (religious) schools:

 

Article 11 of the state constitution includes this language:

 

Sec: 9.  Sectarian instruction prohibited in common schools and university. No sectarian instruction shall be imparted or tolerated in any school or University that may be established under this Constitution.

 

Section Ten.  No public money to be used for sectarian purposes. No public funds of any kind or character whatever, State, County or Municipal, shall be used for sectarian purpose.

 

Could it be any clearer? No public money to be used for sectarian purposes. No public funds of any kind or character whatever, State, County or Municipal, shall be used for sectarian purpose.

 

What part of this does the Nevada legislature and voucher advocates not understand?

 

As it happened, Democrats recaptured control of both houses of the legislature last month, with slim majorities. They have a chance to defund the ESA program altogether, if they have the will.

 

Nevada still has a Republican governor who wants to keep vouchers alive. The ACLU of Nevada is challenging the state for continuing to invite applicants for a program that has been enjoined by the state Supreme Court.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has taken issue with the state treasurer’s office for continuing to accept Education Savings Account applications, two months after the Supreme Court had struck down the funding part of the program.

 

The ACLU argues that the treasurer’s office shouldn’t be accepting new applications on its website for a program that was found unconstitutional.

 

“I think it’s particularly misleading to parents to ask them to sign up for a program that isn’t funded and can’t be funded,” said ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Amy Rose.

 

The ruling further divided both sides in the debate over the school-choice law, which creates state-funded savings accounts for parents who seek education outside of the public school system.

 

A group that supports public education called Educate Nevada Now declared that the legal ruling against “Education Savings Accounts” made it possible to address the real needs of children in the state’s schools.

 

An Education Savings Account (ESA) is a voucher that diverts taxpayer money constitutionally allocated for public schools to private schools. The voucher program threatened to strip away nearly $40 million from Nevada public schools. The same funds could be better served if they were allocated to fund Pre-K, Special Education, ELL, and the many programs that are currently underfunded.

 

Educate Nevada Now wrote:
On November 18, 2016, Judge James Wilson of the Eighth Judicial District Court issued an order ending Lopez v. Schwartz, the case that challenged Nevada’s controversial Education Savings Account (ESA) voucher program. Judge Wilson entered a permanent injunction halting the program based on the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling declaring the ESA funding scheme unconstitutional.

In its ruling, the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed Judge Wilson’s earlier decision, finding the voucher program “violates Article 4, Section 19 and Article 11, Sections 2 and 6 of the Nevada Constitution…” These are the sections of Nevada’s Education Article that expressly prohibit the use of public school dollars for other purposes – including vouchers for private education.
A little over a year ago, a group of courageous parents from across the state took a stand in court against ESA vouchers. They were concerned that millions of dollars would be diverted from the public schools to pay for private schools and other private education expenditures. With many public schools woefully underfunded, the voucher bill meant Nevada’s nearly 440,000 public school children would face further cuts to the critical programs, staff, and services they need to succeed in school.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on September 29, 2016, and Judge Wilson’s order permanently blocking the voucher law put an end to the ESA voucher program. The law in our state is now clear: funds appropriated by the State Legislature for public education can only be used for one purpose – funding our public schools.
It’s time now to renew the effort to strengthen Nevada’s public schools. Yet voucher proponents are still trying to find a way to resurrect the failed ESA program. They are asking legislators to find $40 million in the state budget to subsidize private school tuition for children in families that previously signed up for vouchers, even though most of those children already attend private schools, and their families can afford the tuition without a government subsidy.
Nevada faces a $400 million dollar budget deficit going into the 2017 Legislative Session. Our state consistently ranks near the bottom of the nation on measures of educational success. For example, Nevada offers very limited access to high quality preschool, a research-proven program to boost academic progress. The state’s school funding system ranks at or near the bottom in funding fairness, according to an annual report released by the Education Law Center.
We are now at a crossroads. We simply can’t afford to spend scarce education dollars on subsidizing private education for a handful of students. Instead, we need to join together to lift up all students. This starts with a serious investment in public education to fund urgently needed initiatives, especially in those schools serving high numbers of at-risk students.

 

During this Legislative Session, let’s do the right thing for all Nevada children and make sure our neighborhood schools have what they need to provide every student with the opportunity to succeed.

 

A voucher by any other name is just as bad for the vast majority of kids who attend public schools