EDITORIAL: Sandoval’s chance to reform Nevada

Nevada voters sent a pair of messages in Tuesday’s midterm elections. They trust Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to deliver on his promise to improve the state’s underperforming education system. They did not trust the promises of Question 3 supporters to do the same.

Gov. Sandoval led Nevada’s Republican landslide, easily winning re-election to a second term, and Question 3, the job-killing business margins tax sought by the state teachers union, was annihilated by about 60 percentage points.

Question 3 was pitched to voters as the fix for Nevada’s struggling schools, as the funding solution the Legislature would never reach on its own. But private-sector unions joined a broad coalition of companies and industries in opposing the tax and the hostile business climate it would have created. Voters overwhelmingly took their side.

And so Nevadans re-elected a governor who has vowed to turn around Nevada’s dismal education rankings through a combination of increased education spending and education reforms. Nevadans want better schools. They believe more spending on schools is necessary. But they don’t want to damage Nevada’s recovering economy, and they want schools to be held accountable for poor performance.

Gov. Sandoval has political capital. Winning 70 percent of the vote provides that, regardless of abysmal turnout. But voters also handed him a Republican majority in the state Senate, and late Tuesday it appeared the GOP might capture control of the Assembly as well, an outcome that seemed impossible even a few weeks ago.

The 2015 Legislature will define Gov. Sandoval’s legacy. He has a once in a generation chance to chart a new course for a state held back by poorly performing schools and failed policies that preserved the status quo.

His plan should have many components. Among them:

— A temporary school bond extension in Clark County would allow some badly needed construction projects to start. The Clark County School District has a crowding crisis, particularly at the elementary school level, where enrollment is projected to explode over the next few years.

— An overhaul of Nevada’s school boards, which are a joke. The Washoe County School Board violated the open meeting law in chasing off and paying off Superintendent Pedro Martinez, and Clark County trustees have long let the bureaucracy call the shots. In his first term, Gov. Sandoval succeeded in changing the governance structure and makeup of the State Board of Education. Now he needs to revamp county school boards as well by reducing their elected membership and making most positions appointed.

— Provide full-day kindergarten at every Nevada elementary school, not just low-income campuses.

— End social promotion in schools by requiring students to reach reading proficiency by the third grade. Provide the instruction and intervention necessary to make every Nevada child literate.

— Expand focused instruction to students who aren’t proficient in English, but also expand Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement instruction. Lifting the state’s lowest achieving students won’t be enough to boost the state’s economic fortunes. Nevada schools must challenge their best and brightest, as well.

— Champion school choice by: passing “parent trigger” legislation, which would empower families to shut down perennially failing schools and allow charter schools to take over public school buildings; implementing opportunity scholarships, which would allow businesses to receive tax credits for providing private school tuition to needy students; and introducing vouchers, which would give every family educational options currently available only to the wealthy.

— Fast-track merit pay for teachers across Nevada, and offer educators sizable bonuses for outstanding performance.

Many of these policies would require more money through tax increases and tax reform. Here’s how to get it done.

— First, remind lawmakers and special interests that no tax system is immune from the ebbs and flows of the economy. Broadening the state’s tax base does not guarantee stable revenues during times of recession.

— Second, any kind of business revenue tax, whether it mirrors the margins tax rejected by voters Tuesday or a gross receipts tax that has been floated in Carson City previously, must be off the table. It’s terrible policy.

— Allow temporary increases to motor vehicle taxes and the state sales tax to expire on June 30, 2015.

— Expand the state’s sales tax to services and other transactions, then reduce the rates. The taxes will apply to more commerce, but will be less regressive and largely voluntary.

Gov. Sandoval should have his agenda and his state budget for 2015-17 set well before the start of the legislative session. He should promote it aggressively, through town halls, social media and face-to-face meetings with constituents. If the public buys in, lawmakers will buy in.

The state’s future is in your capable hands, Gov. Sandoval.