LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Question 1 on the Nevada ballot proposes amendments to modify the authorities of the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents.
Another election means another go at trying to make question one a law. It failed in 2020.
“This version of the question is a lot better than the 2020 version,” said UNLV Political Science Professor Dr. David Damore. “That was the most skipped ballot question.”
Dr. Damore said now voters in November have the opportunity to update the State Constitution.
“This is an old, outdated, antiquated model of governance and it’s led to essentially a very insular culture at NSHE in the Board of Regents that doesn’t serve the students well,” he added.
The Board of Regents acts like how a Board of Directors would for an organization only they’re in charge of all of Nevada’s colleges and universities as well as the billions of dollars allocated to them.
Those powers are written in the State Constitution.
Question one’s passage would remove some of those powers and hand them over to the Legislature.
“This would just allow the Legislature to have full oversight capacity. They would not have to worry about concerns from the Regents in the Nevada System of Higher Education pushing back, saying, ‘You can’t do this. You can’t do that because we’re a constitutional body,” said Dr. Damore. “That’s been a long running fight with the legislature, particularly over how state dollars get spent by higher education institutions there.”
Proponents like Damore believe question one will bring more transparency and accountability to those in charge of Nevada’s higher education system. But others feel its passage will just give the legislature more power and put more politics in the way higher education is governed.
“If people are not happy with the status quo, they would like to have different process for selection the regents, or criteria for the regents here, the only way you’re going to get to those opportunities to make those policy changes is if question one passes,” Damore said. “It is the first step. That would just allow for much greater flexibility and the ability to adapt our higher education system to the changing demography and changing needs.”
If question one passes this November, it becomes law.
The Nevada Legislature has already taken some steps to reform the Board of Regents. It’s cut the number of Regents from 13 to nine and reduced their terms from six years to four.
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