SCHOOLS OVER STADIUMS FILES REFERENDUM PETITION TO FORCE STATEWIDE VOTE ON STADIUM FINANCING

(Carson City, NV) - On September 6, 2023, Schools Over Stadiums filed a referendum petition seeking to repeal the state tax funding dedicated to stadium bonds in Senate Bill 1 from the 35th Special Session. “Schools Over Stadiums has been committed to pursuing every possible path to stop the use of public funds to subsidize a billionaire’s stadium and that has always included putting the question to Nevada voters who were effectively shut out of the process,” said Dawn Etcheverry, a music teacher and President of NSEA and Schools Over Stadiums. “Nevada’s priorities are misguided and when we launched Schools Over Stadiums in June, our goal was to ensure that public funds go to the services Nevadans depend on like our public schools, not to a California billionaire for a stadium.”  During the 82nd Legislative Session, Legislators failed to hear a single bill to reduce Nevada’s overcrowded classrooms, the largest in the nation, and made no movement on generating new revenue streams for our schools. Shortly after Session, a report was released showing Nevada leading the nation in educator vacancies. While those important issues went unaddressed, the Governor and Legislature moved their focus to the needs of John Fisher and his lobbyists. For 8 days, Nevada politicians singularly focused on financing a “world-class” stadium for a California billionaire, while ignoring Nevada’s second-class education system. “This referendum petition will target specific parts of Senate Bill 1 to strip public funding for the proposed stadium regardless of what State and County officials agree do in any sort of development deal,” said Alexander Marks, spokesperson for Schools Over Stadiums. “We’re excited to get out there and start gathering signatures from Nevadans who want to put our schools first. We’re confident that a majority of Nevadans will join us in taking action to put Nevada’s priorities back in line so we can address an education system that ranks 48th in funding with the largest class sizes and highest vacancies in the country.”

School Over Stadiums was formed by Nevada educators in response to a giveaway of hundreds of millions in tax dollars to a California billionaire for a stadium, when Nevada schools rank 48th in per-pupil funding with the largest class sizes in the nation. Schools Over Stadiums is pursuing every possible path to stop the use of public funds to subsidize a billionaire’s stadium.