The K-12 Budget Subcommittee recommended increasing the education budget by 26% over this biennium, $318 million more than the Governor’s recommendation. But action was also taken to raise the Education Stabilization Account cap from 15% to 20%, which would stash away an additional $322 million, a bigger increase for reserves than our schools.
It turns out the biggest beneficiary of additional funding are charters, with a 41% increase in the biennium worth over $400M. On the other side of the ledger, Storey County will lose 5% of its total budget. Sadly, the rising tide will not lift all boats.
Certainly, Nevada’s strong economy and record revenue is welcome news, but it’s still a rainy day for Nevada schools. Nevada ranks 48th in education funding, even behind Mississippi. And everyone knows Nevada has the largest class sizes in the nation. The crisis of educator vacancies has reached a tipping point. In the last two years, Nevada is projected to lose more than 15% of our teaching workforce. Nevada also has a serious problem with vacancies in classified positions, meaning we are short people who make our schools run. Nevada’s severe educator shortage threatens the basic function of our school system. It’s a rainy day for Nevada schools.
Throughout this session, you’ve heard from a parade of educators about the hardships of working in education with low pay and increasingly stressful working conditions. Next week, hundreds of educators will convene in Carson City and in Las Vegas, umbrellas in hand, to display the intensity of the crisis in our schools.
We implore you to redirect monies from rainy day reserves to fund Time for 20—a 20% raise for every Nevada educators, starting pay of $20/hour, and average class sizes of 20 students. It’s a rainy day for Nevada schools.
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