Progressives in Nevada frustrated by Lombardo’s budget veto

By Casey Harrison (contact)

Friday, June 2, 2023 | 6:22 p.m.

CARSON CITY — Progressive advocates on Friday blasted Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo’s veto of a key budget bill to fund state agencies and using the omnibus legislation as leverage to advance his school-choice agenda.

Lombardo late Thursday vetoed the state’s Appropriations Act, which allocates more than $7 billion in spending for the three branches of government and departments ranging from Nevada Highway Patrol to Medicaid and veterans services after lawmakers failed to advance an amended version of Assembly Bill 400, Lombardo’s primary public education legislation. Though the governor has signed three spending bills into law, he’s maintained he would veto the budget unless elements of his agenda were passed as well.

Annette Magnus, executive director of Battle Born Progress, said with Lombardo’s veto of the Appropriations Act, the state is the closest it's ever been to a government shutdown. The new fiscal year begins July 1, and unless the budget is approved by then, government offices will be closed until a deal is announced.

"We are disgusted and disappointed to see the governor throw this temper tantrum and throw ordinary people under the bus,” Magnus said. “They don't deserve to be treated like the leverage for his political agenda. This is about his political agenda and nothing else.”

AB400 initially sought more than $50 million in allocations for Opportunity Scholarships, which use tax credit vouchers to finance charter school tuition for low- and middle-income students, over the upcoming biennium, as well as establish an Office of School Choice and fund transportation to charter schools. All of those provisions have been removed, leaving only sections that establish grants for pre-K literacy programs and restoring a requirement that third graders must read by grade level or be held back.

Dawn Etcheverry, President of Nevada State Education Association — the state’s second-largest teachers union, said it was irresponsible to use public dollars to fund private education at a time when the state’s public school system generally ranks among the lowest in the nation.

“The governor can call them opportunities, scholarships, but whatever soft language you use to disguise their intent, they all function the toxic same way,” Etcheverry said. “Vouchers divert funding from public schools and into institutions that are not accountable to the taxpayers.”

Lombardo’s version of AB400 also raised the household income threshold for who would be available to apply for Opportunity Scholarships. Current law allows only those making within 300% of the federal poverty line, which for a family of four this year comes out to $90,000 annually, whereas Lombardo’s proposal would have raised that limit to 500% of the poverty line, or $150,000 for a family of four. The poverty line fluctuates depending on the number of persons living in one household.

Democratic leaders say they’re skeptical of increasing the funding cap for the vouchers because they say only roughly half of the current $13 million cap for Opportunity Scholarships have been awarded, which lawmakers approved during the last session.

According to the Nevada Department of Education office, all of the $4.7 million allocated toward opportunity scholarships for each of the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years have been exhausted. For fiscal year 2023, the department received $6.65 million and the remaining amount available for application is $0.

“This is all in the context of the governor throwing a temper tantrum because he's not getting what he wants on school vouchers,” Magnus said. “And we are very proud of Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and (Assembly) Speaker Steve Yeager for holding the line on school vouchers because they are dangerous and unnecessary.”