Representatives from the South Shore testified before a Nevada Senate education committee today regarding the good neighbor policy that would allow some students in California and Nevada to cross the state line to attend college at in-state tuition rates.

“This bill would ensure more of our children can obtain an education from an institution of higher education,” Stacy Noyes, a parent who lives in Stateline, told Lake Tahoe News. “It would remove the barriers of the time it takes to travel to WNCC (Western Nevada Community College), the expense of transportation and of course most important reduce the tuition costs. It could be life changing to many to avail themselves of the opportunity to attend LTCC (Lake Tahoe Community College).”

Noyes along with Kelly Krolicki and Kate Krolicki, a senior at Whittell High School, spoke at the March 24 hearing in Carson City.

LTCC President Kindred Murillo and former Trustee Roberta Mason also spoke.

Murillo has been working on this for three years.

“If this doesn’t go this time, I don’t know if it will,” Murillo said at the LTCC board meeting Tuesday night.

She said the focus needs to be on students, not dollars.

State Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, is the the author of SB414. His counterpart in California, state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, has introduced SB605. They mirror each other. The laws would benefit Lake Tahoe Basin students in specific ZIP codes, and involve Lake Tahoe Community College and Western Nevada Community College. This would be a six-year pilot program.

One member of the Nevada Board of Regents spoke Tuesday, saying the bill would negatively impact WNCC. When a committee member asked how so, she had no financial documents to back up the statement.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report