Kiss That Straw Man Goodbye

We expected them to scream over it. But really, did they have to lie? And did they have to advocate a "plan" they themselves know will go nowhere?

So what are we talking about? Remember those gawd awful "Kiss Your Assets Goodbye" TV ads that the rabidly anti-tax-reform Nevada Development Authority ran in California nearly five years ago to entice businesses there to move here? Well, it's back... And it has a new name: The Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA).

And not only does LVGEA have a new name, but it also has a new mission: killing The Education Initiative (TEI). Perhaps it's not really all that new, since LVGEA/NDA has always fought any attempt to bring Nevada's tax code into the 21st century. But now, it's focused on killing this new effort to break the cycle of FAIL that's crippled Nevada schools and the state’s overall economy. But why? Simple answer: shortsighted greed.

But this week, that shortsighted greed may be coming back to bite LVGEA. Why? Remember when we discussed the shortchanging of Southern Nevada two years ago? LVGEA went there this week. So far, so good. But then, it proceeded to shoot itself in the foot. But how so?

Remember when we went into detail last year about how to fix state funding formulae without shortchanging anyone? LVGEA clearly doesn't get that, since Jon Ralston & other local media caught LVGEA boss Tom Skancke claiming Esmeralda County can magically fix Clark County schools. But how so?

He claimed the state should just slash funding for Esmeralda County schools and the rest of Northern Nevada public education, then divert all that money to the Clark County School District. Of course, there's one problem with this new funding fix: It's anything but realistic. There's no way anyone up north will agree to massive budget cuts in order to better fund the south. But even if Southern Nevada lawmakers were to miraculously agree on a "Rob from the North to Fund the South" budget, it would still only add a few extra pennies into the still mostly empty bucket for Southern Nevada's schools.

So why go there? Why is LVGEA proposing such a nonsensical and unrealistic "alternative" to TEI? Does LVGEA now care about public education in Southern Nevada? Is its rage against the state’s flawed funding formulae blinding it to the full picture of Nevada's flawed tax structure? Or is it just trying to distract Southern Nevada voters with a rather flimsy straw man?

Frankly, we strongly suspect the latter. We also suspect this straw man is faring as well as that ridiculous "Kiss Your Assets Goodbye" campaign did five years ago. And if NDA/LVGEA/Whatever-the-hell-it-will-call-itself-next wants us to believe it has a realistic alternative to TEI, then it actually needs to produce one (and then get its cronies in Carson City to actually pass it).

Finally, Shortchange No More?

Back in January, we looked at the burgeoning campaign by powerful Southern Nevada interests to redo the state budget in a way that redirects money south. So far, there's been some success as the higher education finding formula will likely be changed. And with the threat of SB 322 clearly being felt, Clark County is already receiving 80% of state transportation project funding this year.

So there's already progress underway in redirecting state funds. Yet even with this, the Nevada Legislature's Southern leadership still seek more.

“If Southern Nevada gets a cough, the whole state gets a cold, and if you think about that analogy, when things don’t go well in Southern Nevada, everybody else feels the repercussions, as well,” Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, said.

“Fair” can work like this: Behold, northern counties, as legislators shift money to Clark County, the most economically important county in the state.

“We want to be fair to everyone, but part of being fair to everyone is being fair to the south,” Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, said.

And we know the facts & figures behind their rhetoric. Clark County has over 70% of the state's population. And Clark County funds over 80% of the state's budget. Yet despite this, Clark County is "lucky" to muster just over 50% of state investment.

Again, some changes are now underway. And there will certainly be even more in the works by the time sine die approaches. Yet with this being said, there are even more areas where Southern legislators see inequities that must be fixed.

One such area is K-12 education. In Clark County, many can't even access full-day Kindergarten. Clark County schools have also been struggling to properly provide required English Language Learner (ELL) programs. This is why Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis (D-North Las Vegas) has pretty much threatened to do whatever it takes to secure more funding for Clark County schools. It's now just a matter of how much backup he will get from Kirkpatrick & Roberson.

Southern leaders also caution that more needs to be done, even on higher education & transportation funding. Just a couple sessions worth of more money can't make up for historic funding inequities and continuing drawbacks in current funding formulae. So what can be done? And how does that happen?

This is why many education activists have called for not just funding formulae fixes, but also more revenue to actually make it work. And this is why The Education Initiative will be going to voters next year.

Yet this year, legislators have not been ignoring the demand for restoring revenue. And in particular, Southern legislators have been noticing how Clark County funds over 80% of the state's budget, only to get about 50% back. This is why we've been hearing more calls for mining tax reform, even from some previously unlikely sources. After all, why should Las Vegas Strip casinos do nearly all the heavy lifting (as in tax collecting) while rural Northern Nevada mines pay mere pennies on the dollar for all the gold they strike?

We're just over halfway through the 77th session, so there's not much time left for legislators to agree to some dramatic overall of "GovRec" (Governor Brian Sandoval's proposed budget). Is there enough time to secure more funding equity now? Or is there at least time to lay more of a foundation for future major reforms?

There's not much time left, but there's also not much patience left.

Redistribution & Reconciliation

We all knew this was coming. Back in January, Southern Nevada "business leaders" demanded a change in the state's education funding formulae. OK, so that's been happening pretty much since the founding of Las Vegas. What's changed?

What's changed is that this time, Southern Nevada's legislators are actually pursuing change. That's why the usually affable Jason Geddes & William Horne had a brief Twitter fight last month. And that's why some Northern Nevada legislators are getting jittery.

And now, key Southern Nevada Democrats are now suggesting this can be used to break the logjam on restoring past budget cuts to Nevada schools.

“If people aren’t willing to talk, that definitely needs to be on the table,” said Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, of the strategy. “If we don’t want to talk about adequacy in the way we fund things, then maybe we can talk about equity.”

Southern Nevada legislators say they want to play nice by shifting money to Clark County but also raise taxes to patch the losses the other 16 school districts would suffer. That plan, however, would require many rural legislators to make a reluctant vote for tax increases.

“It’s on the forefront (for) many Southern Nevada legislators to figure out how to hold other people harmless, but I think that brings up the revenue discussion,” said Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas. [...]

Changing the formula to account for the higher costs of educating students living in poverty and English language learners, among other factors, would mean that the state would need to raise at least an additional $117 million in order to replace the money rural school districts would lose, according to the 2012 study.

So if the revenue pie doesn’t grow, Clark County legislators could find a way to steer their direction the $135 million in new education funding Sandoval has proposed or flip a few levers in the state’s education funding formula and send dollars cascading south from northern school districts.

“I don’t think anybody really wants to do that, but we hear from Clark County residents that we should do that,” Denis said. “They’ve been funding the rest of the state, and our kids are the ones that suffer because of that.”

At last, the late Bill Raggio's (deliberately) "fuzzy math" is coming back to bite Northern & Rural Nevada. For decades, Clark County has subsidized the rest of the state. While over 80% of the state's revenue is collected in Clark County, and while over 70% of state's population resides in Clark County, about 50% of state expenditures are spent in Clark County. This simply isn't sustainable.

That's why so many down here are demanding change. And that may be leading to some previously unexpected openings in other areas of the state budget. Assembly Minority Whip Tom Grady (R-Yerington) proclaimed his opposition to taxing an industry based in one part of the state to fund public services in another. He should be careful what he wishes for, especially considering the statistics listed above... And the Las Vegas Strip casinos' fear of any future gaming tax increase.

Against this increasingly complex, multi-layered, and intriguing backdrop, SJR 15 will be heard in the Senate Revenue & Economic Development Committee on Tuesday. Ralston hints there may be drama next week, but I have a hard time seeing justification for it now. More and more Democrats have had to reaffirm their commitment to passing SJR 15, and now the "Mod Squad" Republicans are on record supporting it.

Funny enough, Tom Grady tried to use his anti-redistribution argument against SJR 15. If anything, it's now having the opposite effect. Again, over 80% of the state's revenues are collected in Clark County. The Las Vegas Strip is not just the glitzy show horse of the state, but it's also the state's key economic work horse. And money made on The Strip often ends up spent on public services in places like Yerington, Ely, and Winnemucca.

Personally, I have no problem with that. However, what I do have a problem with is hypocrisy. How can one rail against redistribution of state funds, then actively support it?

The only ones who truly benefit from the current redistribution scheme are the multinational mining corporations. They extract valuable precious metals, rake in record profits, and pay hardly anything to the state in return. And because these multinational mining corporations pay hardly anything, the state must rely even more on Southern Nevada's gaming & tourism industry to deliver the goods for the entire state.

Something must change. Why should Clark County students and educators suffer just so multinational mining corporations can pad their profits a little more? That's why we'll be seeing even more fireworks in the coming week.

(And on an important programming note, I plan to be in Carson City next Tuesday for the SJR 15 hearing. Expect plenty of live coverage next week when Nevada Progressive takes a field trip to the Nevada Legislature!)

The Right Way to Fix Education Funding Formulae

How many times have we heard the complaints about Nevada shortchanging our own kids? And how many times have we specifically heard the complaints about Nevada shortchanging its most populous county, the place where over 70% of our people live and where about 80% of the state's tax revenue is collected? All too often, we hear rumors of solutions brewing in Carson City. But this time, some there are actually determined to fix both problems.

But of course, there's a catch. Not everyone seems determine to solve both problems.

Democratic leaders have said achieving “funding equity” is their top priority. Technically, that means ditching the decades-old funding formula that favors sparsely populated counties in favor of a “weighted funding formula” that directs more funding to districts with large populations of students in poverty, learning English as a second language or in gifted and talented programs.

In reality, that means diverting state funding from Washoe and rural counties to Clark County — which has been historically underfunded on a per-pupil basis.

Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, said achieving funding equity is key to the rest of the Democrats’ education initiatives — including reduced class sizes, expanded full-day kindergarten and creating a pre-kindergarten program for at-risk students.

“Our kids are being disadvantaged in Clark County as opposed to everywhere else in the state,” Denis said. “We really need to look at that and do what is best for all of our kids, which includes Clark County.”

Nevada is one of just 14 states that doesn't consider poor students in its school funding formulae. And Nevada is one of only 3 states that doesn't consider English language learners in its school funding formulae. This obviously puts Clark County at a huge disadvantage. And that disadvantage is only worsened when taking into account the late Bill Raggio and his uncanny ability to find money for Northern Nevada schools... But often at Southern Nevada's expense.

There's often been talk of changing the funding formulae. But now that the balance of power in the Legislature has finally shifted to the south, it's now getting more attention.

But unless it's matched with progressive tax reform, it's likely doomed to fail. And here's why. The first consultant hired by the Legislature to examine funding formulae reform found that under an otherwise "status quo" budget, Clark County schools stand to receive 6% more funding if the formulae are changed... But Washoe County stands to loss 2%, and Eureka County loses almost half of its entire funding!

While Clark County schools desperately need their fair share of public funds, no one really benefits if that comes at the expense of the rest of the state. While Washoe County schools are better funded than Clark's, it's not as if Washoe schools are "rich". They can't afford to be cut.

Ultimately, Nevada needs more revenue to ensure that all our schools are properly funded. It's ridiculous to cause a "beggar thy neighbor" situation instead of taking a comprehensive approach to improve all Nevada schools. Instead, we can find the revenue to fund Southern Nevada schools without starving the North by simply cutting back on the corporate welfare in our tax code. But will enough folks in Carson City see what's obvious to us? That remains to be seen.

Shortchanged No More?

In today's RGJ, some Washoe County "business leaders" and the Nevada Superintendent of Higher Education claim they've found the reason why Nevada ranks so low in quality of public education. But of course, it's all the fault of those damned Vegas kids! That must be it. (/snark)

“By comparison (to Las Vegas,) Washoe looks like someone’s dream,” said Nevada Superintendent of Schools James Guthrie. [...]

“To be honest with you, I don’t worry about Washoe too much,” said Guthrie. He said there is work to be done in Washoe County, but the district has the right people and community support in place. [...]

“Clark County drives 75 percent of the numbers,” said Anne Loring, about negative national rankings. Loring is a former Washoe County School Board trustee and a board member of the [Education Alliance of Washoe County].

“We (Nevada) are an anomaly because we have one of the biggest school districts and here we are, so tiny,” Loring said.

Well, it's true that Nevada is such an anomaly because just over 70% of the entire state population is in Clark County. What makes it worse is that Clark County has been chronically shortchanged. When Southern Nevada schools are far less funded (per student) than schools in the rest of the state, Southern Nevada will drag down the entire state average.

What makes this even worse is that over many years and many legislative sessions, "the powers that be" in this state have mostly looked the other way despite all the growing evidence pointing to these serious problems. "The Great 2000s Real Estate Bubble" was always doomed to burst, but hardly anyone in Carson City wanted to talk about how to get past it until it was too late. Of course, they probably didn't want to talk about it because the bulk of the state's budget was built upon the bubble, and that everything from fire stations in Tonopah to community centers in Eureka to freeway projects in and around Reno depended on tourist dollars from the Las Vegas Strip. And even as the state had been able to fund some public infrastructure in Central and Northern Nevada thanks to "bubble" money from the last decade, Clark County still lacks sufficient higher ed opportunities at UNLV, sufficient health care, and plenty other areas of infrastructure that are critical to a successful community. Strangely enough, money from the primary economic engine of Nevada (Clark County) hasn't been used to properly maintain that engine. And because that engine has been neglected, the entire vehicle (Nevada) is in trouble.

And this brings us back to Dr. Robert Lang's segment on KNPR's "State of Nevada" this morning. The typical "powers that be" in Carson City have failed the entire state, but especially Southern Nevada has been neglected, and that's ultimately been to the detriment of everyone in Nevada. As this election season heats up and we eventually hear candidates talk about what they want to do in Carson City next year, we need to make sure that they follow through on their promises once elected, and that they finally stop avoiding what has to be done to heal our state and let Las Vegas become more self-sufficient.

Speaking of UNLV's Robert Lang, he took part this week in a summit for Southern Nevada business leaders and elected officials (from both local and state levels) on building a strategy to deliver more funding for Clark County and its public infrastructure.

The private sector, which has been frustrated over the years by southern lawmakers not sticking together, also is involved. Brookings’ Rob Lang is helping to kick off the event along with the Las Vegas Chamber’s Brian McAnallen.

“It is a conversation with a variety of partners in the community about issues in Southern Nevada and setting some Southern Nevada priorities for the upcoming legislative session,” said chamber spokeswoman Cara Roberts.

The daylong event apparently is designed to be a strategy session between local and state elected officials. Friction between those two groups -- the locals think the state wants to steal its money, and the state often has fulfilled that prophecy -- has not helped southern solidarity in the past. But maybe after the state Supreme Court all but ended the local government pilfering parade with the Clean Water Coalition decision that changed the arc of Session '11 and, perhaps, Gov. Brian Sandoval's career, maybe comity can be achieved.

This is an issue that we've often discussed before here, yet it's one that isn't discussed enough in Carson City. One would think they saw another painful reminder in November's steep drop in casino wins. Simply put, Nevada can no longer afford to ride a "one trick pony" that's a Las Vegas economy based only on gaming. And the only way we can solve this problem is by properly funding the public infrastructure that's necessary to allow new businesses to grow alongside the traditional staple of gaming.

One can hope the issues addressed at yesterday's summit will make it on the agenda in Carson City.

The morning started with presentations by Brookings Mountain West director Rob Lang and Las Vegas Regional Economic Development Council executive director Tom Skancke.

Lang detailed how the state’s outdated governance structure in many areas limited the opportunities for Southern Nevada to grow dynamically.

“This is nobody’s fault. This is just that we’re inheriting a legacy from folks who did not take on the challenge of adapting government to a larger scale that was part of the rapid growth process in this state,” he said.

He outlined a range of issues that need addressing at the state level, including finding new education funding formulas, restructuring the community college system, funding an on-campus stadium at UNLV and dealing with the effects of the federal health care law, the Affordable Care Act.

As I described above, there's a clear reason why Clark County has often underperformed the rest of the state on key metrics of community well-being. We just haven't had enough resources to properly fund our public infrastructure. Hopefully, that can start changing this year. With new leaders in Carson City and a state economy that's starting to reemerge from the worst recession in 80 years, Nevada needs to invest more in its economic backbone (Greater Las Vegas) in order to ensure a healthy and balanced economy in the future.