EDITORIAL: Lombardo must keep his accountability promise

Doing what’s popular with the establishment has led to Nevada’s bottom-of-the-barrel education ranking. Solving that problem will require what the establishment despises — accountability.

In his 2023 State of the State address, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo pledged to pair record education funding with accountability. He and the Legislature ended up approving a massive 25 percent increase — $2.6 billion — in public school funding. This school year, Nevada is spending more than $13,300 in average per-pupil funding.

Yet, achievement remains abysmal. Statewide, fewer than 41 percent of third graders are proficient in reading. In math, it’s under 44 percent. It doesn’t get better as students stay in the system. Nevada is one of about a dozen states that requires high school students to take the ACT, a college readiness exam. Among the class of 2024, Nevada had the lowest average composite score of any state. Even students in Mississippi, which also tests all juniors, scored better than their Silver State counterparts on the ACT.

“If we don’t begin seeing results, I’ll be standing here in two years calling for systematic changes to the governance and leadership in K-12 education,” Gov. Lombardo said in that 2023 speech.

He reiterated this pledge in September 2023 with his “Acing Accountability” initiative. “With this historic funding, however, comes unprecedented accountability,” he said at the time.

But the Clark County School District’s 2023-24 “Acing Accountability” report shows academic achievement remains poor. Just 13.4 percent of students in grades four to eight “are on-track to be proficient within three years or by eighth grade,” it reads. That’s down from 15.9 percent in the 2022-23 school year.

Accountability is sorely needed. Yet Democrats, who control both legislative houses in Carson City, have — in service to their teacher union benefactors and the failing status quo — for decades resisted virtually every effort to implement reforms intended to ensure the public school system answers for unacceptable academic outcomes.

That must change.

One obvious move Gov. Lombardo should take in his budget proposal is to not extend the $250 million matching fund for teacher pay hikes that Democrats pushed through last session. Nevada teacher pay ranks 27th in the nation, according to the National Education Association. Local teachers have enjoyed significant raises in recent years, and their pay is in line with other Western states.

But if Democrats insist on perpetuating that spending, the governor should hold out for $500 million in tax credits for Opportunity Scholarships. Giving low-income families a chance to leave failing schools would create some accountability.

If Gov. Lombardo instead simply proposes more raises or another big hike in education funding, he would undercut his accountability pledge. He also would be ceding his best negotiating chips with the legislative majority. As last session showed, Democrats are unlikely to give concessions if Gov. Lombardo indicates in his State of the State address his willingness to dump more money into the system.

Gov. Lombardo needs to stand firm on his accountability promise. It’s the key to substantially improving educational outcomes in Nevada.