Clark County School District trustees voted 5-2 to approve the final budget for the 2018-2019 school year after being told there was no time to make changes.
School district leaders told trustees missing the state's June 8 deadline to file a budget could result in misdemeanor charges.
They went on to say the staff did not have time to draft a new document and get board approval before the mandated deadline when asked about looking for other solutions.
Some teachers in the audience questioned whether the board spent enough time looking for places to cut other than the classroom.
"There are other places they could have looked. Not just central office, but transportation, little by lines, superintendent. There are other places they could have cut from," Robert McGoldrick said.
None of the trustees were happy about the decision with phrases like, "we only get what the state gives us" and "this is a state funding issue" common phrases being uttered by all seven members.
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Even after the meeting, school board members were telling parents and teachers if they want to see the improvement they need to take the issue up with state lawmakers.
"I hope the public takes a look at that and asks their next legislator," Kevin Child said.
While it is called the final budget school board members indicated it is likely just a work in progress like most years.
The budget for the 2018-19 school year is $2.4 billion, similar to its budget in 2017-18 while in 2016-17, it was around $2.3 billion and in 2015-16, back around $2.4 billion.
The budget for Clark County is considerably lower than similar-sized districts. CCSD is the fifth largest school district with around 320,000 students. Meanwhile, the fourth largest, Miami-Dade County Public Schools with 345,000 students, had a budget of $5.1 billion in 2017-18 and the sixth largest, Broward County (Florida) Public Schools with 271,000 students had a budget of $3.86 billion.
