A majority of Nevadans support the state’s groundbreaking yet controversial school choice program, according to poll results released Wednesday.
Earlier this year the state created education savings accounts. The accounts, known as ESAs, allow a family to apply 90 percent of their per pupil education funding toward private school tuition, textbooks, tutoring, school transportation, university tuition for dual credit courses and other educational needs. More than nine in 10 students in Nevada will be eligible for the program.
Sixty-one percent of Nevadans support ESAs, with only 21 percent opposed.
Traditionally liberal groups showed support for ESAs. Sixty percent of union households supported the program, while 71 percent of Hispanics supported it. Democrats were the political group to show the least support, but still a majority supported the program.
Note that question wording affects the results of nearly all surveys. The question was worded as, “earlier this year Nevada created the nation’s first universal education savings account program — which uses state funds to create a personal account for parents to fund education expenses, including tuition, tutoring, testing fees and books. Do you support or oppose Nevada’s new Education Savings Account program?” Opponents may have pointed out the program allows state government funds to be spent at private schools.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit against ESAs in August, claiming they violate the separation of church and state by providing religiously affiliated schools with taxpayer dollars. It also claims the program is unconstitutional by supporting schools that aren’t part of the public school system.
Many families and the state government are ready to fight for ESAs. “We are very confident the program is constitutional under the Nevada Constitution,” Dick Komer, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, told reporters. “This was not passed for a sectarian purpose … It is a school choice program to provide additional options for individual families to select an education that they believe is the best available education for their kids.”
Komer said the Institute for Justice has intervened 23 times in the past in defense of school choice programs. Tim Keller, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, will help defend ESAs. Keller helped write the Nevada program and a similar program in Arizona, which he successfully defended against a constitutional challenge.
More than 2,000 families have applied for the ESA program so far. Komer said the lawsuit could take anywhere from one to two years to be resolved, but expects the program to be implemented on time regardless.
The poll was conducted by the Tarrance Group and commissioned by the American Federation for Children. Just over 600 voters participated, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.
