Over the last several months, NSEA has testified to this committee and others about the dire educator shortage facing Nevada school districts heading into this school year. Now with most Nevada students back at school, Nevada still has an unprecedented shortage of educators to teach our kids and make our schools run. Even sadder, very little has been done to substantively address the problem.
This past year, we witnessed record educator departures from the state or the profession with low worker morale. Meanwhile, hiring into these vacant positions has proven slow and difficult. NSEA has been tracking vacant positions across Nevada school districts. Most alarming, CCSD still lists over 1900 vacant positions, nearly as many as were listed a month ago. The issue is not limited to Clark County. Washoe still lists over 350 vacancies, and there are still many vacancies across Nevada’s rural counties.
Yesterday, the Economic Policy Institute released its report on teacher pay in 2021. They found that the pay gap between teachers and other college-educated professionals reached an all-time high. In Nevada, that gap is 20.4%.
NSEA has been calling for bold action to address this crisis— to adequately fund public education in Nevada and to respect and retain our experienced educators. We’ve been saying it is Time for 20. Time for 20 means a 20% increase in educator pay and at least $20/hour for the workers who make our school run. Time for 20 means reaching an average class size of 20 students. This is the right-sized response to our educator shortage and would get educators the pay they need to make ends meet.
While there are many items on today’s agenda that are worthy of support, the complete lack of leadership on the educator shortage crisis is galling. In addition to unspent ARPA dollars, this committee heard from the Economic Forum in June that state revenue is outperforming projections by 25%, or $800M. The opportunity to seriously address this serious crisis is right there. Educators and our students need bold action, and Nevada has the resources to make a big impact right now. It’s Time for 20!
