As we start a new year and prepare for the upcoming legislative session, now is a good time to reflect on public education in Nevada. While there has been some progress, the state of public education in Nevada remains dire with chronic underfunding, low employee morale, school violence, and record educator vacancies.
Last month the Education Law Center released Making the Grade, a report on national school funding that rated Nevada as the only state with an F in all three of their metrics: funding level, funding distribution, and funding effort. Sadly, there is nothing new about education in Nevada wallowing near the bottom of national rankings. Educators, advocates, and communities have fought to change this dynamic over the years, but the crisis in our public schools is especially severe today. To overcome the long-term neglect combined with new vexing challenges, Nevada needs to take bold action. That’s why we say, It’s Time for 20! Time for 20 means a 20% educator raise, a $20 minimum wage for workers who make schools run, and average class sizes of 20 students.
Since COVID, educators have left their jobs in record numbers with severely low morale. Meanwhile, hiring into these vacant positions has proven slow and difficult. While educator vacancies in Nevada are not unusual, especially in the late spring and summer months, at the mid-point of this school year we have thousands of school vacancies. Most alarming, the Clark County School District currently lists over 1600 vacant positions. But this issue is not limited to CCSD. Washoe lists over 375 vacancies, and there are still large vacancies across our rural counties, including some counties with up to 40% of their teaching positions being covered by long-term substitutes.
In December, the Economic Policy Institute released a report finding there is a widespread national teacher shortage that is especially severe in districts and schools with high percentages of low-income students and students of color. They also found the current shortage is not the result of an insufficient number of qualified teachers, but rather low pay and an increasingly stressful work environment. In terms of compensation, there has long been a gap between the pay of teachers and other professionals with bachelor's or advanced degrees. Unfortunately, this wage gap has been growing, increasing from about 5% in the mid-1990s to about 23.5% today!
The good news for Nevada is resources are available right now to meet this crisis head-on. Late last year we learned the state has over $1B in surplus revenue, and the Economic Forum estimates the budget for the next biennium will be $2.3B greater than this biennium. Much of this surplus should be directed to the Education Fund. There are also strong recommendations for additional state revenue from the Commission on School Funding, including closing property tax loopholes and expanding the base on the sales tax. These revenue sources have the capacity to adequately fund education in Nevada. Now it’s up to the Governor and legislature. The crisis in Nevada schools is dire, and we need bold action now. It’s Time for 20.
