(Chuck Muth) – OK, class, break out your #2 pencils. We’re gonna do a little math today.
Last week Tennessee became the 13th state to pass a universal school choice bill. It’s a movement showing no signs of petering out – but with a catch.
If you want more school choice, you need to elect more Republicans.
The Tennessee Legislature is controlled by Republicans. They have a 27-6 majority in the State Senate and a 75-24 majority in the State House of Representatives.
A similar partisan dynamic exists in the other 12 states with universal school choice: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, West Virginia, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio. Oklahoma, Utah, Alabama, and Louisiana.
According to a Perplexity search this morning, here’s each state’s current partisan breakdown of their legislatures…
- Republicans currently control the Arizona State Senate 17-13 and the House 33-27.
- Republicans currently control the Arkansas State Senate 29-6 and the House 81-19.
- Republicans currently control the Florida State Senate 28-12 and the House 86-33.
- Republicans currently control the West Virginia State Senate 32-2 and the House 91-9.
- Republicans currently control the Iowa State Senate 34-16 and the House 67-33.
- Republican currently control the North Carolina State Senate 30-20 and the House 71-49.
- Republicans currently control the Ohio State Senate 24-9 and the House 65-34.
- Republicans currently control the Oklahoma State Senate 40-8 and the House 81-20.
- Republicans currently control the Utah State Senate 23-6 and the House 61-14.
- Republicans currently control the Alabama State Senate 27-8 and the House 76-29.
- Republicans currently control the Louisiana State Senate 27-10 and the House 73-32.
And as of today, it looks like Texas is about to become the newest member of the school choice club, where Republicans hold a 20-11 seat advantage in the State Senate and an 88-62 seat advantage in the House.
So where’s that leave Nevada?
Sadly, Nevada was actually an early leader in the school choice movement – until Democrats snuffed it out.
Education Savings Accounts were approved by the Republican-majority Legislature in 2015 and signed by then-Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Democrats, naturally, sued to block the program. And the courts ruled that, although the program was lawful, the funding for it needed to be fixed.
But instead of adding the fix to the agenda of a special session to approve funding for the Raiders’ football stadium in October 2016, Sandoval blew it off.
A month later, Republicans lost their majorities. And Democrats – after Steve Sisolak was elected governor in 2018 – proceeded to kill the program in its crib.
It’s now 2025. Sisolak is out and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is in. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that Democrats continue to enjoy a huge partisan advantage in both houses of the Legislature; 13-8 in the Senate and 27-15 in the Assembly – one seat short of super-majorities in both.
In the 2023 legislative session, Lombardo proposed a variety of school choice options, including an increase in funding for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program for low-income, mostly minority children.
Democrats killed them all.
Lombardo again proposed expanding school choice options in his State of the State address last month and will soon introduce his new education reform bill. But Democrats have pretty much already declared it DOA (dead on arrival).
Some conservative critics – especially Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks – continue to chirp at Lombardo for not doing more on school choice. But they’re ignoring political reality and misdirecting the blame.
It’s a simple math problem.
If you want school choice in Nevada, the answer isn’t to keep smacking Lombardo like a piñata. The answer is to pressure legislative DEMOCRATS to get with the program…or vote them out of office.
Give Lombardo the votes he needs in Carson City and he’ll sign the bill. It’s as simple as that. Blaming him is pure political ignorance or a personal grudge.
OK, class, you can put your pencils down now.