LETTER: Clark County Education Association wants higher taxes — again

The Clark County Education Association again is asking voters to support two new tax hikes to fund public education in Nevada. This latest request occurs less than five years after the 2015 Legislature levied more than $1 billion worth of new taxes — also for education — in the form of increased payroll rates and a consumer-crushing “commerce” tax.

The CCEA likely is fighting an uphill battle to persuade the public of the merits of these latest tax proposals — increases to the state’s sales tax and gaming tax — for two reasons: Past attempts to increase education funding have yielded underwhelming results, and teacher unions continue to hide from the public the process of taxpayer-funded collective bargaining, which, too often, results in financial catastrophe for the districts involved.

Regarding the latter, ever since government unions in Nevada were granted bargaining rights, they’ve enjoyed special treatment from elected officials because they don’t have to comply with the state’s open meetings law. The law asserts “that all public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business” and that “it is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.” Yet unions remain exempt.

Perhaps if voters could witness these negotiations, they’d embrace the union’s guarantee these two taxes will be education’s “final fix.” But, shy of that and against all evidence to the contrary, why should voters trust the union propaganda?

— The writer is the director of legislative affairs for the Nevada Policy Research Institute.