For decades, Nevada has ranked near the bottom of states in education funding and quality. In the 2021 Quality Counts report from Education Week, Nevada dropped to 49th in School Finance and tied for 49th in their overall “Chance for Success” index. And we all know Nevada has the largest class sizes in the county, a direct result of chronic underfunding.
In 2019, the Legislature created the Commission on School Funding and tasked the Commission with studying what it would take for Nevada to reach optimal funding in 10 years. Accounting for “historic” increases to K12 funding recommended in the Governor’s budget, Nevada will still need to raise an additional $2.6B/year to reach optimal education funding by FY33.
The Commission was additionally tasked with making recommendations to the legislature on how the state could raise these funds. The two areas recommended were sales tax and property taxes. This is best described in the Commission’s November 2022 report.
As noted, there are only two sources of tax revenue that have the capacity to achieve the identified levels of annual funding increases over time – property tax and sales tax. While other tax sources can certainly be considered to complement or supplement the overall funding strategy, the revenue demands to achieve the targeted levels of funding in the coming decade would not be achievable without significant contributions from the tax capacity that exists within the property and sales tax systems.
SB394 would be a significant step forward in implementing the recommendations of the Funding Commission.
