Education or Baseball? The fight between Nevada Educators and the Oakland A’s
Dominic Gutierrez takes a closer look at how the Nevada State Education Association is trying to save its state’s education system
When a state ranks №48 in the country in education, there’s an expectation that legislators will attempt to fix that.
On June 14, 2023, the Nevada Legislature ended the 82nd Regular Session and 35th Special Session by neglecting education. Instead, legislators passed Senate Bill 1 (SB1) which approved a funding plan for the Oakland A’s to move to Las Vegas.
The proposed $1.5 billion 30,000-seat stadium would sit in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Many saw SB1 as a joke since $380 million in public funds was committed.
There was an uproar from Nevada educators, pondering why public money is being given to a sports stadium over education.
Insert the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA.) A few weeks after SB1 was passed, NSEA filed to register a political action committee (PAC) to fight the bill.
The PAC was named “Schools Over Stadiums.”
Schools Over Stadiums made a statement regarding the 82nd Regular Session on its website.
“Legislators failed to hear a single bill to reduce class size and made no movement on generating new revenue streams for our schools. Instead, a special session was convened to pass SB1 to commit $380M in public funds to a California billionaire. Despite the fast talk from A’s lobbyists, no data exists to show revenue from publicly funded stadiums will ever reach Nevada schools. Meanwhile, Nevada Legislators heard from a steady stream of fans about the untrustworthiness of the A’s organization and its owner, John Fisher.”
Schools Over Stadiums made it clear that Nevadans deserved a voice on the matter. On Sept. 6, 2023, Schools Over Stadiums filed a referendum petition against SB1.
To get the question in front of Nevada voters next election, the referendum needs to collect about 100,000 signatures.
Chris Daly, political director of NSEA and vice president of Schools Over Stadiums, has confidence they can get enough signatures by the summer of 2024.
Getting to this point’s been no easy task, and Daly understands the odds aren’t in their favor.
“When everyday people take on billionaires, they’re always the underdog,” Daly said.
The battle became even more uphill when A’s lobbyists sued Schools Over Stadiums and its referendum.
The two sides met in the First District Court in Carson City on Monday, Nov. 6. After an hour-and-a-half hearing, Judge James Russell rejected the language of the proposed referendum.
Russell stated that the referendum needs the full text of the measure. He also said the petition’s description of the effect, a 200-word summary of the measure, was confusing.
Daly disagrees and noted that SB1 left many unanswered questions.
“The whole SB1 is confusing,” Daly said. “So then you take a 66-page bill and you have to distill what you’re doing. Amending or deleting three sections of it. It’s impossible to do a perfect description.”
That’s why as of Nov. 14, 2023, Schools Over Stadiums plans to file a lawsuit against SB1, claiming the bill “ violates at least 5 sections of the state Constitution.”
Alexander Marks, Director of Strategy for NSEA, knows it’s far too early in the ballgame to say they’ve lost.
“They won the first round, but we have eight innings left to play,” Marks said. “We’re not done, we’re going to refile, we’re going to appeal, we’re gonna keep going.
On Nov. 13, 2023, Schools Over Stadiums announced it had filed an appeal of the court’s decision.
Like Marks said, however, there’s a lot of game left to play. The next inning involves the other 29 MLB owners to vote on relocation to Las Vegas. The vote, which is expected to pass, is set to be held on Nov. 16.
Even with the push, schooling in Nevada needs desperate help.
Bethany Li, an elementary school teacher in Las Vegas, said she comes home extremely exhausted. She’s not home until almost 10 p.m. some nights because she has to work late to prep for the next day.
“Morale is super low,” Li said. “I’m heavily considering moving at the end of the year just because of how bad education is here in Nevada.”
Li said she couldn’t believe Nevada legislators passed SB1 when so many bills related to education were thrown out.
Assembly Bill 319 (AB319) is one example. This bill was vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo, which would have allocated $43 million over the next two years to provide free school breakfasts and lunches.
SB100, which would have allocated $60 million for a new elementary-middle school in Ely, Nevada. The bill only got one hearing and received no votes.
SB158 (placing security cameras in special education classrooms) and SB244 (setting aside $3 million for gardens at schools) also did not make it.
Even national media outlets have written stories regarding the lack of attention on Nevada education.
Despite the hardship of the job, Li said A’s fans have been some of the most supportive when it comes to their movement. They even went as far as donating money to Li and other educators to help them buy school supplies.
“A’s fans almost immediately offered to help,” Li said. “ I was really touched, and I and other teachers are so thankful for it. It’s really great to have someone else fighting for our cause.”
Daly agrees and said Schools Over Stadiums may not have happened if it wasn’t for the support from A’s fans.
“Oftentimes we’ll lose on a bill like this and then we move on,” Daly said. We would have done that if it wasn’t for the organizing of the Oakland fans, and the relationship that was made between those fans and our member leaders. That’s why we started Schools Over Stadiums because there seemed to be energy there.”
The battle is nowhere close to being over. As Marks said, there’s still plenty of innings left to be played. Being ranked №48 in the nation has only fueled Nevada educators, and the ballgame won’t be over until it ends their way.
