EDITORIAL: ‘True school choice’ arrives

The politics of school choice can easily diminish the deeply personal, life-changing nature of alternatives to traditional public education.

But the importance of the Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program was not lost on Gov. Brian Sandoval when he signed it into law Monday. By putting his signature on Assembly Bill 165 at the historic Fourth Ward School in Virginia City, Gov. Sandoval wasn’t marking another policy or political victory. He was rescuing hundreds of Nevada children from poorly performing public schools and a lifetime of limited economic opportunity.

“Up until this moment,” the Republican said, “we have not had true school choice in Nevada.

“Today is a day I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time.”

Before Monday’s bill signing, only wealthier households enjoyed a full range of educational options. These families can afford to pay tuition at any number of private schools. Everyone else dissatisfied with the public schools closest to their homes hoped to get into a magnet or charter school, or seek a spot in a far-away public school through open enrollment. These limited choices often are decided by enrollment lotteries. If luck isn’t on your side, your child is stuck.

But the new scholarships, championed by Gov. Sandoval since he was elected to his first term in 2010, put private school on the table for middle-class and low-income families.

Businesses that donate to the choice scholarship fund receive an offsetting tax credit from the state, so there’s no effect on a company’s bottom line for supporting the program. The credits are limited — businesses must apply to the state Department of Taxation for the credit. The program will receive $5 million for the 2015-16 school year and $5.5 million for the 2016-17 school year, and the maximum scholarship is worth $7,755 per student, per year. The scholarship is paid directly to private schools, not parents, and can be used at parochial campuses.

More than 640 Nevada children could receive full scholarships for the next school year. For these families, the scholarships are the stuff of dreams. For these children, it is a chance to soar.

It was unfortunate to see AB165 pass along party lines, with the Legislature’s majority Republicans in favor and minority Democrats opposed. Democrats argued that the scholarships will benefit private schools at the expense of public schools. But if the choice scholarship program results in reduced enrollment at crowded school district campuses, those public schools are spared the cost of educating those children. It also was curious to hear Democrats claim that the program’s income threshold for student eligibility, set at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, would benefit affluent households. A household with four people that earns $72,750 per year is not rich.

The Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program is one part of Gov. Sandoval’s education reform agenda, which seeks a rapid, radical transformation of state schools. Increasing educational competition is a critical part of that plan.

We’d like to see Gov. Sandoval and the Legislature go even further by expanding universal school choice to every Nevada family, through education savings accounts or vouchers. But Nevada now has more school choice than it has ever had before. That’s cause for celebration.