Dive Brief:
- With Nevada's passage of a historic $1.1 billion general fund tax package to fund education, Gov. Brian Sandoval’s ed reform plans are primed to come to fruition.
- One controversial part of the plan is an expansion of the state's current voucher law, which the Washington Post reports will allow ed funds to follow any of the state's 450,000 K-12 students to whatever school they choose.
- Most state voucher programs are limited to low-income students or students with disabilities; this bill, however, is being viewed as a first step in dismantling public education as any student, regardless of socio-economic background or ability, can essentially opt out of the traditional public school system and use tax dollars on private school.
Dive Insight:
Patricia Levesque, chief executive of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an organization created by presidential hopeful Jeb Bush in 2008, told the Washington Post that voucher schools are where charter schools were 20 years ago. While this may be good news for the likes of FEE, which helped draft the Nevada legislation, many others are troubled by this news.
Interestingly, under Nevada's legislation, students must be enrolled in a traditional public school for 100 days before they can take funding elsewhere. While this plan may seem like a way to give traditional public schools a chance, the reality is that the approach can be even more detrimental, as it would create instability during the school year, with students bouncing around and classrooms gaining and losing students mid-year.