About four hundred people are expected in downtown Reno at an event focusing on how Washoe County schools impact economic growth. Reno Public Radio’s Anh Gray has more.
Mike Kazmierski is with the the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, or EDAWN. He says companies considering to invest in the region are expecting a high quality education.
“We are convinced that companies that are looking to come here, especially now that the jobs we’re bringing in are more sophisticated, more technology, higher paying,” Kazmierski explains, “as we work to grow the economy with these paying jobs, people are not going to come here if we’re not willing to invest a little bit in our schools. Why should they come here?”
That’s why the EDAWN is endorsing a November ballot measure proposing to raise the sales tax in Washoe by about half-a-percent. The money generated would go to capital projects to alleviate overcrowding. Right now, about a fifth of schools are already over capacity in the county.