Lawmakers approve $15m in funding for teacher, support staff raises… but not for CCSD

The Nevada Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee on Wednesday deferred a vote to approve $58 million in funding to provide additional raises for Clark County School District’s lowest paid employees, citing the district’s failure to present any plans for raises for licensed educators.

Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, who chairs the Interim Finance Committee, said in order to receive their share of money — allocated in Senate Bill 231 earlier this year — school districts were supposed to come forth “with a plan for budget increases for teachers and education support professionals.”

“The plan from CCSD does not encompass all of that,” she said.

CCSD reached a contract with the Education Support Employees Association and Teamsters 14 for support staff in August, but has yet to reach a deal with the Clark County Education Association for its licensed teachers. CCSD declared an impasse in September, setting the dueling parties on a path toward lengthy arbitration.

Monroe-Moreno also noted she received an email the afternoon before the finance meeting saying CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara would not be attending.

“We kind of expected every superintendent,” she added later.

The Current asked the district why Jara did not attend the IFC meeting. The district did not respond.

Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) have both publicly called for Jara to resign. Jara has said he intends to stay as long as the Clark County School Board allows. He is currently contracted through June 2026.

In a statement Wednesday, CCSD called the lawmakers’ decision to defer their vote “unconscionable,” saying the hardworking support staff members had been looking forward “to having these funds sooner rather than later.”

“Instead, these custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, office managers, instructional assistants, and many more are forced to wait because the Legislature did not follow their guidance as provided to school districts,” the statement continued.

The district pointed to a document sent by Legislative Counsel Bureau staff to district superintendents and finance staff in August that acknowledged the districts may reach agreements with their collective bargaining units at different times and “may submit multiple requests for SB 231 funding.”

CCSD, according to a press release issued  the day before the finance committee meeting, indicated it expected SB231 money to hit support staff’s paychecks beginning Jan. 1, 2024.

ESEA and Teamsters 14 in a joint statement described the vote deferral as “a heart-wrenching betrayal for support professionals, right before Christmas.”

“We do not believe that support professionals should be held hostage by other union actions,” the groups said in their statement.

The unions said CCSD was asking for “the exact proportional amount to be distributed to support professionals.” Several support professionals speaking in public comment prior to the deferral emphasized that approving the money for support staff would not be taking away money from anyone else.

CCSD’s submitted plan requested $58 million, which would have provided a 4.2% salary increase for its approximately 12,000 support professionals. Those raises, which would sunset on June 30, 2025, would be in addition to the 8.7% raises budgeted by CCSD through the collective bargaining process.

The sunset provision of that agreement is a known source of contention between CCSD and CCEA. The teachers union has maintained its position that SB231 can be used to permanently raise salaries.

Other districts

Lawmakers on Wednesday did approve $15 million in SB 231 funding for several rural school districts whose plans encompassed both their educators and support staff. Those amounts included $5.3 million to Carson City School District, $4.2 million to Nye County School District, and $4.5 million to Douglas County School District.

Lander County School District requested $590,000 in funding, which would have supported raises for only one of the two relevant collective bargaining units. That vote for approval was deferred to a future meeting, “for consistency” with the decision for CCSD, added Monroe-Moreno.

Lyon County School District requested $6.2 million in funding but that vote was deferred after several lawmakers took issue with how the district would distribute those funds. Lyon County School District planned on dividing the funding equally among all eligible employees over the remainder of the biennium, as opposed to providing each employee with a percentage-based raise, which all other districts have done.

That money would have been on top of the ​​14.5% cost-of-living raises negotiated with the district and the teachers and support staff unions.

Superintendent Wayne Workman said his school board believed this option was more transparent and more appropriate for their district than providing percentage-based raises.

Cannizzaro, who sponsored SB 231, said she felt this approach amounted to providing bonuses, not raises, and didn’t seem to meet the intent of the bill.

Workman pushed back, saying Lyon’s approach cleared their legal counsel and was not flagged by the Legislative Counsel Bureau as problematic. Several Republican lawmakers agreed.

“It’s tough to read minds in how exactly some of you envisioned this playing out,” remarked Workman to the committee at one point.

Churchill County School District submitted a request for $2.3 million in funding. But Monroe-Moreno announced that representatives from the school “had the wrong time” and were more than an hour away from appearing before the committee, therefore the vote would be deferred to a future meeting.