15-04-2025
Bill seeks administrative fix to avoid ‘manufactured crisis' in private school scholarship program
Democratic Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno. (Photo: Richard Bednarski/Nevada Current)
Two years ago, a first-come first-served process allowed one Florida group to hoover up every dollar of available funding for Nevada's private school scholarship program, which led to a perceived budget shortfall and a contentious 12-hour legislative meeting.
Now, Democratic Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno is sponsoring a bill aimed at addressing the administrative issues that led to that hubbub.
Assembly Bill 441 does not affect the total funding amount for the Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship program, better known as Opportunity Scholarships. The program and its funding have been a political battleground for Republicans and Democrats since being established in 2015.
AB441 would create a 30-day application period during which the scholarship-granting organizations would submit to the Department of Taxation their applications for accessing funds. The Department of Taxation would then approve applications based on a mandated order of priority: Students already receiving a scholarship are first, then siblings of returning students, and then everyone else.
What happened in 2023 was that one Florida-based organization, AAA Scholarship Foundation, claimed the entirety of the $6.66 million available, leaving nothing for the other organizations who had been counting on the money. That led Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to ask the Democratic-controlled Interim Finance Committee for $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the scholarship program. When his request was denied, Lombardo accused the majority party of 'forcibly removing hundreds of low-income students from their schools.'
Democrats at the time called it a 'manufactured crisis' fanned by a Republican governor who earlier that year had proposed a massive expansion of the scholarship program only to walk away from a contentious legislative session with enough funding to keep the program at its current level.
According to the most recent annual report on Opportunity Scholarships, which covered scholarships for the 2023-24 academic year, AAA had given out $5.8 million to at least 957 students and was still awarding money in December 2023. Meanwhile, three organizations that had given out money the year prior gave out nothing.
Monroe-Moreno last week told lawmakers on the Assembly Revenue Committee, which advanced the bill, that AAA publicly vowed to help affected students but did not follow through.
She added that one organization told her that their students did not get funded by AAA.
AAA Scholarship Foundation CEO Kim Dyson declined the Nevada Current's request for an interview but emailed press releases from after that 2023 meeting stating that the organization was opening a special application period for students who'd been affected.
Dyson in a letter of opposition to AB441 said that the organization 'awarded scholarships to every eligible transferring student who applied with us.'
The Nevada Independent reported in September 2023 that 283 students applied to AAA for a scholarship during that application period. That was less than half the amount of the number private school voucher advocates had said would be affected by the IFC decision the prior month.
For the 2024 funds, the Department of Taxation considered all applications received on one set date (June 14, 2024) to be received at the same time. Then, the department prorated the available funds, resulting in each organization receiving 76% of what they requested.
Dyson in an email said the organization is 'grateful' for that change.
AB441 would also require scholarship-granting organizations to expend the money they receive within 18 months, with any unspent money after that time period going back to the state.
Representatives from AAA testified to lawmakers in August 2023 that the organization had $13 million in reserves.
AAA on Monday confirmed to the Current that the organization still has $13 million in reserves.
It's unclear how much reserves funding the other scholarship-granting organizations have. In 2023, those organizations had about $5 million combined.
Dyson in a letter of opposition to AB441 argued that reserves ensure financial stability and that the organization has followed the 2017 guidance from the Nevada Department of Education and Nevada Treasurer's Office.
'Unlike some other' scholarship-granting organizations, 'we have never had to cancel scholarships for eligible returning students,' she wrote.
AB441 must be passed by the full Assembly by April 22 or it will be considered dead.
