No new taxes

There were several tight races on Tuesday's ballot. Clark County Question No. 2 wasn't among them.

Two-thirds of county voters sided against the question, which would have increased property taxes for six years to pay for up to $720 million in renovations and construction at Clark County public schools.

Perhaps the margin of defeat isn't all that surprising. Nevada has the country's highest unemployment rate, and its residents have suffered the worst drop in personal income since the onset of the Great Recession. Voters were dead set against raising taxes on themselves - by about $100 per year for the typical homeowner - amid so much economic suffering and uncertainty.

When examined alongside the defeat of relatively tiny tax-increase initiatives for libraries in Henderson and Carson City, the message from voters was pretty clear: Government may not have more of our money.

We think other dynamics were at play.

It's safe to say some voters didn't believe the Clark County School District's capital needs were all that critical, or that the school district is accountable in its spending, or that funding those needs would lead to improved student achievement. For evidence of that, look no further than the Las Vegas Academy for the Performing Arts. Much of its historic downtown campus is in such disrepair it's barely functional. And it's one of the highest achieving schools in the state.

The school district just eliminated 1,000 teaching positions and has funding shortages for maintenance and capital projects. If the district still has hopes of improved funding, either from a popular vote or from the 2013 Legislature, the defeat of Question 2 might improve the system's chances of getting the general fund boost it needs to hire more teachers.

We can't help but note the disconnect between a county electorate that strongly supported the re-election of President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates across the board - people who favor more public works spending, policies that have led to increased health care, energy and food costs, as well as increased education spending - but overwhelmingly rejected a plan to repair, upgrade and replace deteriorating schools.

Some of these repairs are more urgent than others, and over the next two years the money to make those fixes will come from somewhere. On Wednesday, district officials and trustees said they would move forward with contingency plans that include closing schools and moving some to year-round schedules. "We're at the bottom," Trustee Carolyn Edwards said. "I think that's very, very clear. But it's only going to get worse. This will cost the classroom."

The Clark County School District has some work to do to improve funding. That work starts at the 2013 Legislature.

First, lawmakers need to create dedicated, statutory maintenance budgets for school districts that don't commingle funds with regular operations. This will prevent school boards from short-changing maintenance and thereby creating more-expensive replacement needs, and it will prevent bargaining groups from getting at maintenance money through contract disputes.

Meanwhile, the Clark County School Board should outsource some maintenance work and empanel a committee of business leaders to advise the board on appropriate maintenance funding levels and schedules. And the school district must do a better job holding builders accountable for the shoddy construction that has led to some of these problems.

Then lawmakers should either repeal or grant schools an exemption to the state's prevailing wage law, which drives up the costs of repairs, renovations and construction.

If our schools and lawmakers take these steps first, perhaps taxpayers will line up in support of the district instead of against it.