Advocate for education blasts governor’s veto

Gov. Jim Gibbons’ veto of legislation suspending tax breaks for “green” building projects will cut funding for Nevada schools dramatically, according to a local education advocate.

Mary Jo Parise-Malloy, vice president of the nonprofit Nevadans for Quality Education, said Thursday that Nevada’s schools could lose about $500 million during the next 15 years because of the veto of Senate Bill 567.

Parise-Malloy said the veto indicates the governor is more supportive of big business than education. “He’s giving breaks to big businesses, and education is not receiving anything,” she said. “Education funding is barely enough to keep the status quo.”

Nevadans for Quality Education has about 200 paying members.

The Legislature approved SB567 out of concern that revenue lost to the tax breaks would hurt school districts and local governments. A 2005 law provided companies engaged in construction projects with the tax breaks if they followed what known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards.

Parise-Malloy said the group’s $500 million estimate was provided by Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst for the Las Vegas-based consulting firm Applied Analysis. Aguero could not be reached Thursday.

Gibbons vetoed SB567 on Monday out of fear that companies approved for tax exemptions might sue the state. But he also issued an executive order to suspend the sales and property tax breaks for all but four projects already approved. Gibbons’ order gives the Legislature until June 4 to ponder what the state’s next step on the matter should be.

Melissa Subbotin, a spokeswoman for Gibbons, acknowledged that the veto might impact education funding. But she said that if the bill weren’t vetoed, the state could be hit with a barrage of lawsuits that would impact taxpayers.

“The government has its obligations to keep the commitment to taxpayers and to protect our citizens from exposure to the high cost of litigation,” Subbotin said.