ESA controversy in Nevada reflects conflict of values

Shannon Churchwell appreciates the value of a private-school education. She just can’t afford to pay for it.

But if Education Savings Accounts were funded tomorrow, she’d place her two boys in a Catholic school — the very education her single mother worked to provide her while growing up in Philadelphia.

“I think it’s important for parents to have that choice to be able to put their children in an environment that approaches education in a more holistic way,” Churchwell said.

Yet Electra Skrzydlewski, one of a handful of parents who joined in a lawsuit to stop the controversial account program, argues that the $60 million Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed for it could go elsewhere.

“We have a lot of opportunity to take the money that the governor is willing to allocate towards educational expenses and really do some things that are innovative for our community,” she said. “And I don’t know that vouchers are an appropriate part of that plan right now.”

The two public-school mothers illustrate the battle over the savings account program, which would offer state funds to children who seek education outside the public school system.

And as National School Choice Week kicks off Sunday, with controversial school choice advocate Betsy DeVos poised to become the next U.S. secretary of education, Nevada arrives at a crossroads over a program championed in 2015 by a Republican statehouse that now has a Democratic majority.

Since the state Supreme Court struck down the funding mechanism for the program in September, Sandoval has sought to fund it through a different pool of money.

It’s an issue that promises an intense legislative fight beginning Feb. 6 when lawmakers convene in Carson City.

‘FIGHTING THE SYSTEM’

Churchwell didn’t think Christensen Elementary was a good fit for her boys, particularly her eldest, 8-year-old Rashan. The last straw, she said, was when a teacher hit him.

“I just felt like their response was just not appropriate for what happened,” she said. “I felt like we were fighting the system too much and it was just too much drama going on.”

The district says an investigation concluded that Churchwell’s complaint against the teacher was unfounded. Regardless, Churchwell pulled out her sons and placed them at Innovations International Charter School.

Yet in an ideal situation, she would have enrolled both boys in a Catholic school.

If it had been funded for this year, the law would have provided $5,196.60 for a standard account, according to the state treasurer’s office. Students who fall within 185 percent of the poverty line or have a disability would have received $5,774.

That’s money Churchwell’s single mother didn’t have while raising three children in Philadelphia. Some years her mother could afford tuition for private school, Churchwell said. Other years she couldn’t.

“The main thing is she wanted us to be safe, because physically we were not safe,” Churchwell said of schools she attended during childhood. “And academically, they just didn’t have a good curriculum.”

Churchwell’s partner, Randy Benson, is the sole provider for the family of four while she studies to be a nurse practitioner.

On Tuesday night, as she watched the governor’s State of the State speech on TV in the family’s apartment, Churchwell flashed with hope when Sandoval made his $60 million proposal for the program.

‘AN EMOTIONAL CONVERSATION’

When Skrzydlewski watched the governor’s State of the State speech and heard his $60 million proposal, she was “floored.”

As the wife of a teacher and mother of a magnet-school student, she understands the needs of the Clark County School District.

“We need more schools, we need smaller classes, we need tools and resources, computer technology,” she said.

Skrzydlewski is a graduate of the Clark County school system and believes it already offers school choices.

“There are a lot of ways that families can navigate the public school system to find ways that will serve their children better than just going to the school that you’re zoned for,” she said.

She also argues that roughly $5,100 in an account won’t cover the total cost of a local private education.

Private schools also aren’t obligated to take students who may have disciplinary issues or those who can’t cover the rest of their tuition, she said.

“Private schools don’t have to keep these students,” she said. “They can accept the tuition, they can work with the student, and for any number of reasons they can expel the student from that campus.”

With a path still open for the program, Skrzydlewski awaits the debate this legislative session.

“This is a complicated conversation, and it’s an emotional conversation, because it isn’t about figures in a budget,” she said. “This is about our children and about their futures.”

CHOICE VS. COST

The savings account program isn’t Nevada’s first school-choice option.

The state’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program allows businesses to donate money for scholarships in exchange for a tax credit.

In its two years of existence, the program has collected its maximum amount of $5 million in the first year and $5.5 million for the second year. It distributed 1,104 scholarships to low-income families for 2016-17 alone, providing tuition to any of the 89 registered private schools in Nevada.

Mountain View Christian is one such school. Roughly 45 of its 400 students have the scholarship, said Superintendent Crystal van Kempen-McClanahan. The school would gladly participate in the account program as well.

“Honestly, where we are located, we just see it as such an opportunity because the schools around us are really struggling,” she said. “We do believe in competition and we believe in parental choice.”

But a savings account wouldn’t cover the school’s total cost of tuition, which stands at about $6,500 to $8,500 per year.

That’s one matter that doesn’t get sufficiently addressed in the conversation over school vouchers, said Samuel Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education.

Vouchers, which are slightly different from savings accounts but are still a school-choice method, can also allow institutions to have control over admissions, Abrams said.

With the new administration of President Donald Trump and DeVos at the helm of federal education, Abrams said, the country is entering unknown territory.

“I think she’s going to be an adamant advocate for vouchers,” he said of DeVos. “But it remains to be seen how the federal government will be able to flex its muscle to make this happen.”

Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at 702-383-4630 or apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.