LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As students with the Clark County School District head into the final month of the school year, Guy Hobbs and the other members of the Commission on School Funding continue crunching the numbers, trying to find the optimal funding level for Nevada schools, a task assigned by the state in 2019.
Justin Hinton sat down with him to understand the numbers a little more.
“Nevada is spending, currently, a little more than $4,000 less per pupil than the national average,” said Guy Hobbs, chair of the commission.
He recently presented those numbers to lawmakers and what it would take to catch up to other states, given the idea that with additional investment, higher educational rankings would be expected.
“Essentially, it averages to $250 million in new revenue each year to support education in a ten-year period. That's not $250 million and stop there. That's $250 million year 1, $500 million year 2, $750 year 3, all the way up to $2.5 billion by year 10 in additional spending,” Hobbs said.
“The notion behind putting this in front of them is to make everyone aware that we have a problem, and we need to start developing incremental solutions along the way.”
One of the recommendations the commission listed in its report is to modernize the property tax system.
“The property tax caps in the state were set in 1981. This is, by my reckoning, 2025,” he said. “That's quite some time ago, and it hasn't really been seriously reevaluated since.”
The commission suggests taking a look at that 3% property tax cap, or abatement, that makes a property owner’s overall tax bill lower but also limits the amount of money that could go to schools.
Justin: "I think the average parent who hears what you're saying might think, ok, why should my taxes go up when we have all of these casinos on the Strip raking in billions of dollars every year? Why are we not looking at ways to find money from those places?"
Hobbs: "Well, and the legislature has done that over the years."
He went on to say, "... but I think everybody has to remember too that in addition to education, there are a number of other functions that state and local governments provide: public safety, health and human services, roadways. I could go on and on. All of those have to be paid for."
The other suggestion involves revamping the sales tax system.
He says currently, more than 60% of what Nevadans buy and sell is not taxable.
“This isn't a pitch to start taxing everything, but it's a pitch to take a look at those things that are discretionary in spending that aren't necessities of life, to look at those things that, because of technology, used to be taxable but today are not,” Hobbs said.
That would include things like movies that are streamed to home televisions or e-books for tablets.
Neither purchase lends itself to taxes, unlike going to a bookstore and paying for a hard copy.
At the same time, Hobbs says the sensitivity of raising taxes is not lost on him.
He pays property taxes, too, but without some sort of sacrifice, it’s hard to see what will change.
“You have to weigh the importance of achieving the level of education quality in this state against the cost of doing so. That's the value proposition that I think everybody has to make,” Hobbs said.
He says he doesn’t see anything getting passed this legislative session, but once it happens, it will take several sessions, but he says there is reason to have hope.
“We have a set of numbers out there that everybody can have confidence in and once you point that out, there’s a certain level of accountability to everyone, those who vote, those who are voted in, everyone has some accountability for that, and so I think that in and of itself is a huge accomplishment,” Hobbs said.
