Sandoval sets sights on education, tax reform in second term
Gov. Brian Sandoval said Thursday the Clark County School Board made a “grave mistake” by not asking voters this year to approve new bonds to build schools, and the decision might complicate his efforts to reduce class sizes and extend all-day kindergarten to overcrowded classrooms statewide.
“There is no space anywhere anymore,” Sandoval said in an interview with the Review-Journal editorial board. “You can only put so many portables on campus. … I can decrease class sizes, but at the end of the day it won’t make a difference if you don’t have the classrooms.”
Sandoval said he would consider approving a two-year rollover of current bonding authority from 1998 to allow more school construction in Clark County, which needs about 28 new schools to accommodate its growing student population. But he said he doesn’t want rollovers to become open-ended, and that Clark officials must go back to the voters.
“I would say it was a grave mistake not to put that on (the 2014 ballot) and let the people decide,” Sandoval said.
School board member Carolyn Edwards later said trustees decided not to ask voters to approve new bonds because a similar question had failed in 2012 by a 2-to-1 margin. Also, she said Clark County didn’t want to compete with Question 3, the Education Initiative, which would raise money for education by instituting a 2 percent margins tax on businesses.
“It was a judgment call,” Edwards said in an interview.
Edwards also cited uncertainty about how trustees can promote a school bond measure without violating ethics laws. In a settlement with the Nevada Commission on Ethics, Edwards and Associate Superintendent Joyce Haldeman both conceded breaking state law by using taxpayer resources to campaign for a district ballot question.
In 2012, the district sought to increase property taxes by 21 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, generating an estimated $669 million over six years for school improvements and construction.
“It has raised a significant gray area where we don’t know how we do this,” Edwards said.
Sandoval said improving education in Nevada will be his top priority for the upcoming 2015 legislative session.
In the absence of enough classrooms, Sandoval said he’ll press the private sector to build more charter schools, which receive public funding. And he’ll try again to get the Legislature to approve an opportunity scholarship program giving businesses a tax credit for contributing to a scholarship fund. The money would be distributed on a means-tested basis, allowing students at low-performing schools to attend the school of their choice.
Sandoval said he’d also seek funding for efforts to ensure that students can read by third grade, with holding them back as an alternative, and for expansion of the “Teach for America” program to bring new teachers into the classroom.
“Education is going to be the issue for me,” Sandoval said.
It could take years, however, to see results with Nevada at the bottom of most quality comparisons, including graduation rates.
First, the governor said he and lawmakers need to update the basic school funding formula, which dates to 1968, to take into account factors such as a district’s population of English language learners or at-risk students who are more expensive to serve.
In response to a question, Sandoval said he doesn’t know what impact passage of the proposed business margins tax, Question 3 on the November ballot, would have on his budget proposals.
The initiative would provide $400 million to $800 million in annual revenue, according to estimates. The tax, which Sandoval opposes, would apply to businesses making $1 million or more in annual revenue regardless of whether the company is profitable.
“It changes the dynamic of how we look at the budget,” Sandoval said.
TAX REFORM
Along with education reform, Sandoval said he’s also intent on tax reform, although he was short on details. He said there have been decades of studies suggesting Nevada needs to broaden a tax base that now relies heavily on gaming, mining and sales taxes. But lawmakers and governors have taken almost no action over the years.
“I want there to be a comprehensive review of how we fund the state,” Sandoval said.
“I want to make sure that future governors don’t have to go through these dips,” he added, referring to the ups and downs of a tourism-based economy.
Sandoval was upbeat about the state’s progress in economic development during his first term. He said new companies have come to the state as nearly 100,000 private sector jobs were created. The state has become a test site for unmanned aerial vehicles, and the governor inked a deal for electric car maker Tesla to build a $5 billion battery factory near Reno in exchange for $1.3 billion in tax breaks and abatements.
Sandoval said hundreds of construction workers are preparing to pour concrete for the factory, and the company has been working with Nevada’s universities to ensure the state has employees trained to do the jobs once the factory opens. The plant is expected to eventually employ 6,500 people — at least half of them Nevadans, according to the deal.
Sandoval said he will be in Palo Alto, Calif., next month to meet Tesla leaders to talk about progress, he said.
“I feel good about the deal,” he said. “They’re doing what they said they’re going to do.”
Sandoval, who’s expected to easily win re-election Nov. 4, said he’s looking forward to the next legislative session because he won’t be a “lame duck” governor and can get a lot more done.
He said his job would be easier, too, if Republicans retake control of the Nevada Senate, where Democrats hold a slim 11-10 seat majority. The GOP would have to win three competitive seats to flip the Senate, and a series of recent polls show the races virtual ties or give the edge to Republicans.
“I think it’s going to come down to turnout,” Sandoval said, adding it’s “very important” that he has a GOP-run Senate.
Asked about his own future, Sandoval insisted he loves his job as governor and isn’t looking beyond that. Speculation is he could be offered a judgeship or Cabinet post, and his name has been mentioned as a vice presidential candidate for 2016.
“I am singularly focused on my job,” Sandoval said.
Asked what are the odds he will complete his second four-year term, Sandoval said, “I think they’re really good.”
Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.
