CCSD Budget Presentation Highlights Insufficient State Funds

Las Vegas, NV - Today Clark County School District will present its budget for the 2019-2020 school year and confirm what the Fund Our Future Nevada coalition has been saying about school districts statewide - they are not being provided with enough funds to keep up with costs.

CCSD has made clear that that they cannot afford the 3% raises proposed by Governor Steve Sisolak for teachers or the 2% roll-ups without having to make cuts or increase class sizes. Therefore, the District has not included it in its budget as it would prohibit balanced budget. Additionally, CCSD has expressed that the proposed mandates and bills presented during this legislative session would cost the District $800 million.

“Much like CCSD, several other school districts across the state will find it difficult to provide the raises when the additional funding is not provided in the budget,” said, Jen Loescher, from Teach Plus Nevada and a member of the Fund Our Future Nevada coalition. “There seems to be a huge disconnect between the expectations of our schools and the funding they receive. Our class sizes are already beyond the breaking point and our educators continue to do more with less. We can’t afford to drain our schools and their resources any further.”

The proposed state budget for education increases by 1.46 percent for 2019-2020 and 1.06 percent for 2020-2021 and over the last several years it has not kept up with inflation. Nevada also ranks 47th in school funding, has the largest class sizes in the nation and continually receives a failing grade in funding by several national education studies.

“When the budget doesn’t keep up with inflation, schools districts have to make sacrifices to make ends meet, adding additional costs or unfunded mandates just exacerbates the budget challenges.” said Rebecca Garcia, from Nevada PTA, also a member of the Fund Our Future Nevada coalition.

The goal of Fund Our Future Nevada is to develop a new, cost-based funding formula that accounts for evolving demographic changes and appropriately funds the needs of every Nevada student — this includes accounting for the costs of mandates, standards, and other requirements our schools and students face.

“There are a lot of great intentions to improve educational outcomes but we need to ensure we are providing additional funding for those initiatives and programs and ensure they properly support ALL students,” said Educate Nevada Now’s Amanda Morgan, part of the Fund Our Future Nevada.

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About: Fund Our Future Nevada is a statewide coalition of parents, educators, school districts, nonprofits and municipalities with the shared goal of fixing Nevada's education funding formula and increasing funds with a system of accountability and transparency. Learn more at www.fundourfuturenv.com