Nevada governor threatens education budget veto over school choice

Gov. Joe Lombardo of Nevada is threatening to veto the state’s education budget unless the Legislature agrees to expand school choice.

Lombardo, a Republican, has insisted the Democrat-controlled Legislature approve pay raises for charter school teachers, as well as measures to increase public school choice, in the state’s spending plan.

“I’ve been clear and consistent on this,” Lombardo said recently. “I will not sign an education budget that does not include equal pay for public charter school teachers and make teacher pay raises, including those for charter school teachers, permanent. Further, I will veto any education budget bill that falls short of addressing a serious need for accountability, transparency and real parental choice.” 

Charter schools, which are state-funded, would be the second-largest school district in the state if considered as a whole, with more than 61,000 students. The Silver State has about 450,000 public school students. 

Since taking office in 2023, Lombardo’s efforts to expand school choice have met resistance from Democrats. 

The state has a small tax credit Opportunity Scholarships program, which is capped at $6.8 million and serves about 1,800 students. Lawmakers also approved education savings accounts (ESAs) in 2015, but the program never got off the ground due to legal challenges and resistance to funding it in the Legislature. 

This year, bills to raise the scholarship cap and reinstitute ESAs “didn’t even get a hearing in committee,” Anahit Baghshetsyan of the Nevada Policy institute told The Lion in an interview. 

But there was a ray of hope this week when Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager included charter teacher raises in his merit pay for teachers bill, giving hope that the measure will advance, Baghshetsyan said. The raises would bring charter teacher pay in line with increases public school teachers received last year. 

Lombardo’s budget proposal, released this week, includes more accountability for failing public schools, such as making it easier for districts to fire underperforming teachers. The state could also take over chronically failing schools or even convert them into charter schools, Baghshetsyan said, if the Legislature funds that portion of the bill. 

In a nod to school choice, Lombardo proposed Resources for Inspiring Student Excellence (RISE) accounts, which would give parents of students in underperforming schools money to use for tutoring and extracurricular activities to address educational deficiencies. 

The plan also includes a bonus fund for high-performing educators, transportation for charter school students, and public school open enrollment for students in failing schools. It would lift the cap on new charter schools in districts where at least 7% of students already attend them. 

There are still issues to resolve before the Legislature adjourns June 2, as the state education fund is facing a projected shortfall of $161 million. Still, Lombardo’s continued advocacy for education freedom appears to be making a difference. 

“I think for us as a purple state, school choice is such a dialogue that needs to invite collaboration from both sides of the aisle,” Baghshetsyan said. “Something our parents and just the regular and general public do not necessarily realize is that ever since he’s been in office, he has been trying to make this reform, but his hands are pretty tied in the sense that he cannot do it on his own or his party cannot do it on its own.”