Did cowardice rule the Legislature?

Who is punishing the kids?

Although a few people are questioning the need to rehabilitate 50-year-old schools, common sense says major repairs are needed in facilities that house hundreds of rambunctious children with vastly different technology needs than 50 years ago.

According to the Washoe County School District, the bill for such basics as heating and ventilation systems, plumbing, and roofing totals more than $500 million. The 2002 rollover bond that supported these capital projects expired last year, and now there’s no mechanism for generating funding to repair our schools.

During the 2013 Legislative session, the School District sponsored Assembly Bill 46 as a solution, proposing that the sales tax be increased by one-quarter cent and the property tax be increased by .05 cents per $100 of assessed value. This would generate about $20 million annually to begin to address the backlog of delayed maintenance. The estimated cost for the average taxpayer: about $8 a month.

While the Washoe delegation was nearly unanimous in its support for AB 46, they were unable to muster the two-thirds votes necessary for increasing taxes, even though the measure was confined to Washoe County. The bill was kicked around all session with several suggested amendments, including an early one delegating the power for raising these taxes to the local school board.

Although the Washoe County School District sounds like it’s under the jurisdiction of the County Commission, it has its own elected board. Many objected to delegating the taxing authority of the Legislature to the school board, and that amendment was dropped.

After trying unsuccessfully to again convince Republican legislators to support the bill, Democrats reluctantly agreed to amend it and give the Washoe County commissioners the chore of deciding whether to raise the taxes or not, even though the commission has neither the constitutional responsibility nor the oversight function for our schools.

Disregarding complaints about the “tyranny of the minority” when one-third of the members can derail any funding bill in the Legislature, these same legislators imposed the tyrannical two-thirds rule on the Commission, thus requiring four of the five members to approve the measure.

The commissioners and many citizens objected to the Legislature dumping this decision on local government, but the first of several promised public hearings on the measure was held last month.

Despite abdicating their constitutional responsibility, legislators couldn’t keep away from Twitter during that hearing, and their tweets nicely sum up the debate.

Senator Debbie Smith, D-Sparks: “Let’s be clear. Yes #AB46 should have been done by #NvLeg. But it wasn’t. Minority rules. Let’s not punish the kids.”

Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, bluntly countered her sentiments, tweeting: “If I were you, I’d kick this #AB46 back to the #nvleg and tell them to stop being cowards.”

Meanwhile, the governor’s office remained silent, attacked by the anti-tax crowd for allowing AB 46 to pass without a veto while deftly avoiding the anger of parents and citizens who believe our kids deserve better.

Is it cowardice that caused the Legislature to shirk its duty and avoid putting its members and the governor on the record with a tax vote? Or is it the result of the greed of groups like the Chamber of Commerce who give lip service to education but continually influence elected officials to starve government?

To sum it up: the Legislature gave away its power and authority, the governor smiled but did nothing, the commissioners pointed fingers while promising to “do their duty” (whatever that means), and our schools continue to crumble.

We are all to blame for electing those who cannot even unite to make sure the heater works and the roof doesn’t leak at our neighborhood schools.

Who’s really to blame for punishing our kids?