If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result, then there are a lot of crazy people in Carson City. Just look at education.
This is National School Choice Week. It’s an annual celebration of giving parents the freedom to select the best educational options for their children. Nevada does offer parents some limited choices, including charter schools. The State Public Charter School Authority oversees dozens of campuses with a collective enrollment of more than 63,000. If those schools were a separate district, it would nearly be the second largest in the state.
Data show charter students consistently outperform their peers. This includes minority students, English-language learners and those from low-income families.
Charter schools are worth celebrating, but more options are needed. Many states have robust programs that help families send their children to private schools. Nevada does not. Its Opportunity Scholarship program served fewer than 1,000 students in 2023. That’s because Democrats flatly refused to expand the program last session.
Instead, they demand ever-more money for traditional public education. Nevada and many other states have tried that approach for decades. It hasn’t worked. Fewer than 40 percent of Clark County School District third graders are proficient in reading. Eighth-grade math proficiency is under 22 percent.
Results such as these reveal the importance of school choice. The competitive pressures exerted by expanded schooling alternatives for parents can play a large role in improving the public schools and increasing accountability. A dozen states now have universal school choice programs helping students attend private schools. Some are tax credit programs, like Opportunity Scholarships. Others are education savings accounts, which give parents a use-restricted account to pay for education services for their child. That can include private school tuition, tutoring and books. ESAs allow parents to mix and match services.
This movement is spreading. Texas is likely to pass the country’s largest ESA program in the coming months. A significant school choice bill is advancing in Tennessee. Idaho may join the movement, too.
President Donald Trump is doing what he can. On Wednesday, he signed an executive order directing the secretary of education to “issue guidance regarding how states can use federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.” Much depends on the details, but Gov. Joe Lombardo should be prepared to utilize that option if it becomes available.
It’s likely that Gov. Lombardo and Democratic legislators will agree to spend even more money on education this session after pumping an additional $1.5 billion into Nevada’s public schools last session. Don’t expect the new funds to improve academic outcomes. In contrast, school choice improved the performance of public schools in Florida.
Competition works. It’s time to try it in Nevada.
