Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz (R) announced that he has begun the process to make the state’s new voucher program the largest in the country–and if he’s successful, it could lead to a wave of similar laws nationwide.
The Las Vegas Sun reported on Wednesday that starting in January 2016 any parent, regardless of income, with a child enrolled in a Nevada public or charter school can receive about $5,000 to use for private school and homeschooling.
This new voucher program was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval (R-Nev.) in early June.
Every Democrat in both the State House and Senate opposed the bill, despite the fact that it would allow parents to take their children out of failing schools and could save millions of tax dollars. The Washington Post reported that adjusted for inflation, Nevada spends $8,339 per pupil.
The funds will go to an educational savings account administered by the state treasurer. Parents can use it to pay for tuition, fees and textbooks at a private school, or for tutoring, tuition and fees for online learning programs or at a college or university in Nevada that offers dual credit. Home-schoolers can use the money to buy curriculum materials or supplies. Parents can carry over unspent funds from year to year.
If the program raises Nevada’s dismal graduation rates, some of the worst in the country, it could have national repercussions.
Lawmakers in other states including Georgia, Iowa, and Rhode Island have already tried to pass similar laws in 2015, according to the Washington Post.
Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also proposed a similar universal voucher program in the past to no success.
That could all change, however, if Nevada’s law proves a success and a model for other Republican-controlled legislators–similar to the way right-to-work and concealed carry laws have swept through many Republican-dominated state legislatures.
