Less than two weeks ago, nearly 1000 educators and supporters rallied in front of the legislature, umbrellas in hand, to say It’s 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 will 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.
SB509 would give away $380M in public funds to California billionaire John Fisher to build a stadium in Las Vegas for his Oakland A’s, yet Nevada was the only state in the country to receive 3 F’s in education funding in the 2022 “Making the Grade” report released by the Education Law Center.
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. That’s why NSEA has been saying It’s Time for 20, meaning 20% educator raises, a $20/hour minimum wage for school workers, and class sizes of 20 students. Resources are available in Nevada right now, and Nevada has the choice to adequately fund our schools or instead give away tax dollars to California billionaires. Nevada's leaders seemingly want the A’s, but that’s why we get all the F’s.