Tax breaks fueling Nevada’s trumpeted economic renaissance deprived the state’s beleaguered public schools of more than $108 million since July 2016, according to a Reno Gazette Journal review of state financial disclosures.

Last year, the Nevada controller’s office started reporting how much local revenue has evaporated as a result of state tax incentives used to lure major corporations like Google, Apple and Tesla.

The first two reports reveal the Storey County School District — which shares a county with Tesla and dozens of other celebrated corporate tenants at the sprawling Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center — missed out on $69.9 million as a result of such deals.

The Washoe County School District, which in May reported a $7.2 million annual budget deficit, would’ve had an extra $16.5 million to spend over the past two fiscal years if not for tax breaks awarded to aviation, data center and other types of companies.

Similar arrangements cost Clark County School District, the fifth-largest in the United States, roughly $19.1 million in revenue.

The statewide total of foregone school tax revenues would’ve left all three districts plenty of cash to wipe out their 2018 budget gaps, plus enough to cut a $1,200 check to each of the state’s 26,500 teachers. The two-year total lost in Storey County alone almost doubled the sum of educational grants Tesla has said it will award to area schools over the next several years. The company won't have to pay a dime in school-funding sales taxes until 2034.

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Good government advocates aren’t holding their breath for Nevada to take steps to restore lost school revenues, despite ongoing criticism of the Silver State for underfunding classrooms and underperforming in national educational rankings.

Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington D.C.-based economic development watchdog, said there’s “no reason” Nevada schools couldn’t insulate themselves from corporate tax breaks.

“It is just a matter of political will,” LeRoy added.

Governor-elect Steve Sisolak, who campaigned on reducing class sizes and boosting teacher pay, said in a statement to the RGJ that he will keep an eye on all of the state's incentive packages.

"Governor-elect Sisolak has made it clear that improving Nevada's public schools is a top priority and he will consider any policy that does so smartly and effectively," wrote Sisolak spokesman Grigsby Crawford. "He is also consistent in his commitment to scrutinize any incentive package to ensure that any deal benefits communities and Nevadans alike."

Critics say tax breaks are shortsighted

Politicians who speak out against the rising tide of corporate handouts regularly face criticism for opposing “job creation.”

So do school districts, according to a Tuesday report from Good Jobs First.

The report, which included a nationwide survey of financial disclosures from 5,600 independent school districts, found U.S. public schools lost at least $1.8 billion last year as a result of corporate subsidies.

It claims school districts in the ten states with the highest reported tax break losses could hire at least 27,798 new teachers by redirecting lost revenues toward expanding the teacher corps.

It goes on to list Storey County School District was the eighth-most tax credit-impacted district in the country, largely thanks to tax breaks for Tesla’s Gigafactory.

Report authors suggest several ways that Nevada and other states might protect school dollars from diversion toward economic development deals. Alabama, for example, simply excludes the school share of property taxes from its corporate tax abatement deals.

States that fail to do so may be shooting themselves in the foot, the report concludes. That’s because studies show that when companies look to relocate, good schools and a well-trained workforce are usually a more important factor than tax breaks.

“That is especially true during times like these when unemployment is low, and it is projected to remain critical as the Baby Boom generation finishes retiring,” report authors wrote. “Thus, when elected officials hand out subsidies that undermine local school finances, they are shortsightedly undermining the very economic development that taxpayers want to support.”

Robert Fellner, policy director at the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a Las Vegas-based libertarian think tank, seconded that account.

Fellner said cities and states should focus on creating and keeping a talented workforce, rather than competing to give away future tax dollars.

“Tax abatements for billion-dollar corporations like Tesla do hurt taxpayers and public schools, as they are the ones ultimately forced to pay for these corporate handouts,” he wrote in a Thursday email. “So when cities or states compete to lure a giant company to move there, they are basically bidding against themselves, as the companies sit back and see how much free tax dollars they can get to move to a place they were going to move to anyway.”

Defenders tout Tesla accomplishments

Tesla defended itself in a statement that touted the thousands of workers now employed at the company's Gigafactory east of Sparks.

“We couldn’t agree more with investing in education, which is why Tesla has committed $37.5 million to K-12 education and has created multiple workforce development and pipeline programs with local school districts, colleges and universities," wrote Chris Reilly, who oversees Tesla's workforce development and education programs. "Moreover, Tesla only receives these incentives if it performs, as the incentives are tied to Tesla spending a minimum of $3.5 billion and creating thousands of jobs, goals which Tesla is meeting and exceeding by a wide margin.”

Mike Kazmierski, president of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada and a longtime Tesla supporter, said the overall economic development benefits of the company's arrival far outweigh the costs to school districts.

Kazmierski pointed out Tesla employees pay their own property and sales taxes. He said Tesla's behemoth battery factory was "the best thing to happen to our region in a long time."

"It's a huge win for our community," Kazmierski said. "The abatements are on taxes we wouldn't have gotten anyhow.

"(Good Jobs First) is coming at it from a perspective, but they're not looking at the big picture."

A Wednesday report from state officials found the Gigafactory has created more than 7,000 jobs — 40 percent more than promised — and an additional 8,200 jobs in other local businesses since 2014.

The report from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development counted 7,059 employees working in the Gigafactory as of June 30, with average hourly wages of $25.78. That average wage is 38 cents below the wage estimates promised under the four-year-old Tesla incentive deal.

Term-limited Gov. Brian Sandoval said the facility has “had an extraordinary effect on perceptions about Nevada.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.