Don’t use schools to justify more data centers

As a public school educator in the Clark County School District, I’m being told data centers are supposed to be good for my students because they might generate money for schools. I don’t buy it.

I have a simple question: Why should funding for my classroom and students depend on Nevada building more data centers?

For years, educators have been told Nevada simply doesn’t have the money to properly fund our public schools. We’ve watched students sit in some of the largest classes in the country. We’ve watched educators leave the profession. We’ve watched Nevada remain thousands of dollars per student behind the national average. Now, suddenly, we’re being told there’s another way: build more data centers.

Data centers have become the latest industry that some are trying to turn into a cash cow for public education. But educators and students should not be used to make another corporate tax scheme more politically attractive. That’s what this looks like: tech interests using the good reputation of public educators to sell a policy that benefits their industry. Nevada absolutely needs to invest more in its public schools, but tying that investment to the continued growth of an industry already benefiting from enormous tax breaks is not the answer. 

Other states should serve as a warning. According to an analysis by Good Jobs First, tax breaks offered to data centers reduced Virginia’s state sales tax collections by more than $1 billion. Roughly a quarter of that lost revenue would have supported K-12 public education. Nevada should learn from that experience and repeal the abatements for data centers. 

Most importantly, we don’t need to invent another plan to fund our schools because we already have a better roadmap. The Commission on School Funding spent years studying how Nevada can sustainably fund public education. They recommend modernizing our property tax system by resetting depreciation when property is sold and updating our sales tax system to reflect Nevada’s modern economy. Those are serious, sustainable revenue solutions that do not make the future of our public schools dependent on building more data centers. 

Those ideas may not be as flashy as promising billions from the next “booming” industry, but they have one huge advantage: they don’t make the future of our students’ schools dependent on how many more of these data centers Nevada can build. 

That distinction matters. What happens if the data center boom doesn’t last? What happens if companies stop building them at the pace they are today? Our students shouldn’t have to worry about any of that. Their schools deserve reliable funding year after year, regardless of which industry happens to be booming at the time.

Nevada has tried the corporate giveaway approach many times before. We are repeatedly told that if we give enough public money to wealthy corporations, whether Hollywood studios, billionaire sports team owners, or data centers, the benefits will eventually trickle down to the rest of us. Meanwhile, our schools remain $4,000 behind the national average with the largest class sizes in the country. 

And Nevadans are skeptical. According to Emerson College Polling, a majority of Nevada voters oppose data centers being built in or near their communities. Attaching school funding and promising revenue doesn’t suddenly make their concerns about water, energy, noise and quality of life disappear. 

And educators shouldn’t be used to make those concerns easier to dismiss.

As a public school educator in CCSD, I believe deeply in technology, knowledge and innovation. But innovation isn’t an excuse for bad public policy. My students don’t need their schools’ future tied to how many more data centers Nevada can build. They should not have to hope an unpopular industry continues growing so their classrooms can finally receive resources they deserve. They need lawmakers to finally make the sustainable investment in public education they’ve been promising for years. 

The good news is that lawmakers already have the roadmap to sustainably fund our public schools.  Seriously, pass the plan