‘We’re not worthy’: Effort to build new school for Indian tribe stalls

A Northern Nevada tribe’s attempts to build a new school have stalled in the Nevada Legislature, dashing hopes that the 70-year-old building will be replaced anytime soon.

The Owyhee Combined School, located on the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, was built in 1953 and sits adjacent to a hydrocarbon plume, which tribal leadership attributes as the cause of more than 100 cancer deaths over the years.

After the tribe pushed legislators to carry a bill in the 2023 legislative session proposing one-time funding of $77 million to build a new school, state Sen. Ira Hansen and his wife, Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen, both Republicans from Sparks, sponsored Assembly Bill 273. The bill would have made the appropriation to Elko County School District — which runs the school and leases the tribe’s land for $1 a year — for the construction of a school, but it has stalled.

Chairman Brian Mason said he took 100 tribal members to Carson City last week to talk with legislators and plead their case for a new school but was met with resistance. He said one comment he received was, “Why don’t you just move?”

“It’s not like they don’t have the money,” Mason said. “It’s that they think we’re not worthy because we’re Indian.”

Elko County School District Superintendent Clayton Anderson said that while the county does not have the funding to build a new school for the tribe, it has been supportive in the tribe’s efforts to seek funding. Since the bill stalled, legislators and tribal members are looking at other ways to fund the school, Anderson said.

“We are very supportive of Owyhee and their pursuit of trying to secure this funding,” Anderson said. “It would represent a significant improvement for their community.”

Mason said the tribe has lobbyists trying to find money. In the last legislative session, Assembly Bill 495 passed, which created a 1 percent levy on mining companies to fund public schools. He said he hopes the school could be built with funds from that tax, and the tribe will also contribute what it can, Mason said.

If no resolution is found by the end of the session, Mason thinks a lawsuit against the state could be the next step. Mason criticized majority Democrats for not showing support for the new school.

“I just think that some people don’t want to give Indians any money to educate their kids,” Mason said.

On Monday the Nevada Economic Forum approved a projected budget of $11.6 billion for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is expected to propose amendments that include $25 million for state office building renovations, $3.3 million to fund the Office of School Choice.

“Gov. Lombardo is aware of the situation and continues to remain engaged on potential solutions to this issue,” said Gov. Lombardo’s spokesperson Elizabeth Ray in a texted statement.

His administration is pushing for a $263 million purchase of an office complex by the Harry Reid International Airport to replace the government offices at the Grant Sawyer state office building downtown.

Neither Ira Hansen nor Alexis Hansen returned requests for comment.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.

An earlier version of this story misidentified the name of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation.