The Nevada State Education Association has been the voice of Nevada educators for over 120 years, but today is a rainy day for Nevada schools.
It’s no secret Nevada ranks near the bottom of states in education funding. Nevada is 48th in per-pupil funding according to the National Education Association’s Ranking of the States, even behind Mississippi. And everyone knows Nevada has the largest class sizes in the nation. It’s been this way for some time. Now the crisis of educator vacancies in Nevada schools has reached a tipping point. In the last two years alone, Nevada is projected to lose a net 3200 teachers, more than 15% of our teaching workforce, by far the largest reduction in the nation. Nevada also has a serious problem with vacancies in classified positions, meaning we are also short people who make our schools run.
With the end of the school year and a new round of departures, Nevada’s severe educator shortage threatens the basic function of our school system.
Meanwhile, state revenue has reached an all-time high, and Governor Lombardo has recommended stashing away record funds in reserves. Between his proposal to expand the Rainy Day Fund from 20 to 30% of total state general fund appropriations and maxing out the Education Stabilization Account, this totals nearly $2.5 billion. This is more than 6 times state’s previous high of $401 million in reserves! Meanwhile, the Economic Forum projected an additional $251M in better than anticipated revenue for this fiscal year and in the upcoming biennium, while another $300M could accrue to education.
It's a rainy day in Nevada schools. It is irresponsible to continue to underfund education, while over-inflating reserves. It is wrong-headed to consider raising caps on the Rainy Day Fund and Education Stabilization Account, when we can’t retain educators or fill their positions when they leave. Instead, monies should be used to fund Time for 20—a 20% raise for every Nevada educators, starting pay of $20/hour, and average class sizes of 20 students.
