by Lauren Martinez, October 14, 2021
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The state of Nevada sold more than $1 billion in marijuana sales for 2021, but $159 million of it used for public education is far from enough.
The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board with the Nevada Department of Taxation reported $1 billion in taxable sales from Nevada’s legal cannabis industry.
More than $67 million was transferred from the CCB to the Distributive School Account, which funds kindergarten through 12th public education. Another $92 million in Retail Cannabis Excise Tax Revenue was also transferred to the DSA.
But Nevada PTA President Rebecca Garcia said to not let those headlines fool you.
“There’s 500,000 roughly pupils in the state of Nevada, so once you divide out that 159 some million dollars across 500,000 students, that’s only $300 per student. And while that is definitely helpful, it is not a solution when Nevada ranks anywhere from 48th and 50th in the nation for education funding,” Garcia said.
Garcia said it’s important to note the cannabis money is not additional money going into schools.
“There’s nothing new about this money in the sense that the state already anticipated it, the state used it for it’s revenue projections, and it’s already included in the budgets for the next biennium,” Garcia said.