By Josh Meny, Channel 2 News Nevada, September 15, 2024
The Nevada Opportunity Scholarship program was a significant point of contention during the last legislative session and is expected to be a major issue during the upcoming session, which starts in early 2025. The program provides need-based scholarships to private schools for students from households with annual incomes at or below 300% of the federal poverty line.
Recently, Reno Democratic Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch faced criticism after a Q&A with KNPR Reporter Paul Boger regarding Opportunity Scholarships. She stated that the majority of people “taking advantage” of the program are “wealthy individuals” in Nevada.
The Nevada Independent fact-checked Assemblywoman La Rue Hatch and determined her statement was inaccurate – so we pressed her on it.
“When I made that statement, my intention was to speak to vouchers overall. And overall nationally, they do go to, the majority, do go to wealthy families,” said (D-Reno) Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch.
According to the Nevada Department of Education, the average household income of a scholarship recipient in 2023 was between $55,000 and $59,000,which is less than Nevada’s median household income of about $72,000.
“In my humble opinion, for an elected official – somebody who represents the public, not to know this information and go to an interview on record saying these kids are wealthy and rich kids, and this program should not exist, is telling me she either doesn’t know the information, doesn’t read the law,” said Senior Fellow and Founder at the American Federation for Children (AFC) Valeria Gurr.
“It was my mistake to not clarify when I was making that statement, I wasn’t talking particularly of Nevada right now, but moreover nationally my concern is that’s where were going because the governor and his privatization effort hasproposed increasing the cap,” said Assemblywoman La Rue Hatch.
“If she look at the report, these are the kids, a large percentage of the students are minority kids, are Latino kids, are African American kids, are Asian, are whiteit’s a very diverse program serving the communities that need it most,” said Gurr.
Assemblywoman La Rue Hatch is concerned fundamentally by the way the program operates.
“I don’t begrudge any family making any choice for their family, but I am deeply concerned when we take public money and we direct to private institutions,” said Assemblywoman La Rue Hatch.
We fact-checked Assemblywoman La Rue Hatch’s claim that nationally opportunity scholarships benefit wealthy families, and a Politico article that reinforces that statement.