EDITORIAL: State rightly makes ESAs more inclusive

When Nevada lawmakers and Gov. Brian Sandoval approved the state's new Education Savings Accounts this year, their intent was to create the most inclusive, most universal school choice program in the country. In producing the regulations that will determine how families obtain and use ESAs, state Treasurer Dan Schwartz is honoring that intent — and then some.

At a Tuesday public workshop on ESA regulations, which have been shaped greatly by public input, Mr. Schwartz announced active-duty military families would be exempt from the law's requirement that students attend a Nevada public school for at least 100 days to gain ESA eligibility.

"Military life can be difficult on kids, particularly school-age children as they are confronted over and over with being the new kid yet again or face a mid-year move," Julianna Piepkorn, a mother of five and U.S. Air Force reservist stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, told the Review-Journal's Neal Morton. "Giving us the option to avoid sending our children to multiple schools in the short time they are stationed here truly lightens the stress that comes with relocating every few years."

Nevada's ESAs allow parents to remove their children from public school and gain control of the state funding that supported their enrollment: more than $5,000 per year. The funds can be used flexibly to create a customized education for children, whether through private schools, distance learning, tutoring or other programs.

The 100-day requirement was included in the law to prevent the program from blowing a hole in the state's budget. If families whose children already attend private schools or receive an alternative form of education were eligible for the accounts, the Legislature would have had to raise taxes by an additional $100 million per year. The program pencils out because the state and school districts already are spending tax money educating the students who soon will benefit from the accounts.

But for military families who are in and out of the state, the 100-day requirement is a burden. Good for Mr. Schwartz for recognizing as much and taking a step to help families who deserve special consideration.

Mr. Schwartz also announced that initial ESA distributions could commence as soon as February, instead of April, and that incoming kindergartners also could receive an exemption to the 100-day rule. The program's final regulations, which should be adopted next month, will settle the matter.

ESAs are supposed to be as inclusive as possible. Such exemptions make sense.