The Nevada State Supreme Court building in Carson City.
The Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by the Education Freedom PAC essentially demanding the state allow parents to take state money to help pay for their children’s public education — basically vouchers.
The court, in an opinion written by Justice James Hardesty, ruled the Education Freedom PAC failed to provide a funding source to pay for what it wanted to do.
The opinion signed by Hardesty and four other justices states that: “All initiative petitions must comply with Article 19, section 6 of the Nevada Constitution which demands that any initiative requiring an appropriation or expenditure must also include a funding provision to pay for the plan.”
The opinion states that because the initiative does not include a provision to pay for the plan, it is an unfunded mandate and “is void because it was misleading about the impact the proposed change would have on the state’s budget.”
That means it would “impair the Legislature’s inherent deliberative function because it directs the Legislature to enact statutes to effect its goal rather than proposing those laws itself.”
The high court barred the petitioners from collecting signatures and barred the secretary of state from putting it on the ballot.
