NSEA Legislative
Action Center
Wrap Up of the 75th Regular Session of the Nevada Legislature
Nevada Public K-12 Education Budget Overview
Budget Item
|
Governor Recommended Cuts
|
Legislatively Approved
Cuts
|
Amount Preserved
|
Health Insurance |
$97,837,508 |
$ 0 |
$97,837,508 |
Salary Reductions |
$290,422,608 |
$193,615,072 |
$96,807,536 |
Step Increases |
$142,570,229 |
$112,570,229 |
$30,000,000 |
Incentives |
$50,468,323 |
$25,691,267 |
$24,777,056 |
RPDP |
$27,026,324 |
$11,226,324 |
$15,800,000 |
Adult Education |
$6,600,292 |
$600,292 |
$6,000,000 |
Remediation Fund |
$57,669,578 |
$57,669,578 |
$0 |
Signing Bonuses |
$13,994,000 |
$13,994,000 |
$0 |
Total
|
$686,588,862
|
$415,366,762
|
$271,222,100
|
Combined with the funds Nevada will receive from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we were able to preserve two-thirds of the governor’s recommended cuts to public education in Nevada.
Below are a few of the bills that NSEA followed closely:
AB 13 — authorizes a school district to request a waiver from all or a portion of the minimum expenditure requirements when a school district experiences an economic hardship. A school district that is granted a waiver is prohibited from using the money for collective bargaining with its licensed employees or for an adjustment of salaries and benefits of district employees.
AB 14 — requires the Department of Education to adopt a model to measure longitudinal achievement of pupils to determine whether the public school has made progress. This information must be reported in the yearly accountability reports.
AB 243 — requires employers to grant leave to a parent, guardian or custodian of a child enrolled in public school or private school to participate in certain school conferences, activities, and events.
AB 348 — requires the board of trustees of each school district to prepare a notice of information identifying all the advanced placement courses, honors courses, international baccalaureate courses, special education services, gifted and talented programs, charter school programs, and any other educational programs available to students, including where those courses, services, and programs are offered.
AB 359 — creates the Grant Fund for the Training and Education of Personnel Who Work with Pupils with Autism to provide grants to school districts and charter schools for programs for training of personnel.
AB 425 — authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a licensed teacher an additional license to teach elementary education, middle school or junior high school education or secondary education, which is outside his/her grade level of experience if he/she meets the course work requirements and qualifications for the license.
AB 429 — currently school districts are required to spend a minimum amount each fiscal year for textbooks, instructional supplies, and instructional hardware; this adds instructional software to the list of minimum expenditure requirements. Moreover, it determines the amount to be spent on these items by increasing the amount that was established by the 20th Special Session of the Legislature for Fiscal Year 2004-2005 (approximately $65 million) by the percentage of the change in student enrollment, plus any inflationary adjustment approved by the Legislature.
AB 487— requires the board of trustees of each school district to adopt a policy to develop an academic plan for student enrolled in middle and junior high school, and to develop small learning communities for the incoming student in middle and junior high school with over 500 students. Additionally it requires the board of trustees of each school district to adopt a policy for peer mentoring for incoming middle and junior high school students and institute pupil-led parent conferences.
AB 488 — extends the length of the program that allows retired educators to fill critical labor shortage positions and collect PERS to June 30, 2015. Additionally, it let’s school districts designate a critical labor shortage through an open hearing.
AB 540 — requires the Employee Management Relations Board to charge and collect a fee from local government employers of not more than $10 for each employee who was employed by the employer and prohibits a local government employer from assessing the fee against its employees.
AB 560 — eliminates the Western Nevada Regional Training Program and reorganizes the composition of the three remaining Regional Training Programs to include the school districts formerly included in the Western Nevada Regional Training Program.
AB 563 — provides money for basic support, class-size reduction, health insurance, textbooks, supplies, and other educational purposes. It also temporarily authorizes the board of trustees of a school district to use money raised through its general obligations for the purchase of equipment for the transportation of pupils.
ACR 2 — requires the Legislative Commission to conduct an interim study concerning the governance and oversight of the system of K-12 public education in this state.
SB 61 — revises provisions governing the mitigation fund of a school district by removing the requirement that a decline from the tax on net proceeds occur during the immediately preceding two years and by expanding the authorized uses of money in the mitigation fund to include expenses resulting from a natural disaster. Additionally, it expands the purposes for which school districts in counties with a population of less than 5,000 are authorized to use money in the mitigation fund to include retiring outstanding debt and continuing certain instructional programs.
SB 163 — defines bullying and cyber-bullying and revises the provisions governing safe and respectful learning environments to include a prohibition of these acts.
SB 415 — establishes the amount of the state’s share of the costs of premiums or contributions for group insurance for active and retired state officers and employees who participate in the Public Employees’ Benefits Program.
SB 416 — suspends, for the next two school years, norm-reference examinations. In addition, it prohibits school districts from administering any district-wide test that was not adopted by the school district before July 1, 2007, and is not required by state or federal law.
SB 427 — makes various changes to the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Public Employees’ Benefits Program, and to relations between local government employers and employee organizations.
SB 429 — temporarily increases the state business license fee, temporarily revises the rate of the payroll tax imposed on certain businesses, and temporarily increases the rate of the Local School Support Tax. Furthermore, it revises the calculation of governmental services tax due annually for used vehicles and allocates a portion of the proceeds of the basic governmental services tax for four years to the State General Fund and thereafter to the State Highway Fund.
SB 433 — provides furloughs for certain public employees, including educators. Moreover, it triggers an additional 1 percent for salaries if state revenue reaches a certain level.
SCR 37 — requires the Interim Finance Committee to conduct a review of Nevada’s revenue structure and to provide long-term stabilization of revenue.
Below are bills that NSEA strongly supported, but were either vetoed by the Governor or did not pass the legislature:
AB 319 — provide specified rights for a school employee—including 48 hours notification—when having a meeting with an administrator or representative of a school district which may result in disciplinary action against the school employee. Additionally, limits the amount of time an unlicensed employee may be suspended with loss of pay and requires an unlicensed employee who is dismissed from employment to be reinstated with full compensation, plus interest, for all missed days of work if sufficient grounds for dismissal do not exist.
AB 409 — revising provisions governing the appointment of members to the Employee Management Relations Board and the periods within which the Board must hear and decide certain complaints. Additionally, requires the Board to conduct certain hearings using certain hearing officers.
AB 422 — excludes local school support taxes from Sale Tax Anticipated Revenue, or STAR Bonds, an incentive for retail development that draws tourists.
AB 458 — creates the education stabilization fund.
AB 505 — requires the Department of Education to work in consultation with the Nevada System of Higher Education to establish a plan to ensure that high school pupils are ready for postsecondary education and the workplace, and requires school districts to adopt a policy for the remediation of deficient credits to the extent money is available.
Moreover, NSEA was successful in stopping legislation that would:
- Make massive and devastating changes to PERS, PEBP, and collective bargaining;
- Provide vouchers to students to attend private schools;
- Tie teacher evaluations to student test scores;
- Allow the Governor to appoint the State Superintendent of Public Instruction;
- Transfer the powers currently afforded the Commission on Professional Standards to the State Board of Education;
- Encourage the processing and storage of nuclear material at Yucca Mountain;
- Enact blatant anti-union measures; and
- Put limitations on the way school districts could use education dollars.
For the full text of these, or any other bills, log onto http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/Reports/.
To contact your U.S. Representatives/Senators use the following links:
U.S. House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
GPO/WEP Talking Points
