LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County School District has until the end of September 2024 to allocate more than half a billion dollars in American Rescue Plan funds with a bevy of problems left over from the coronavirus pandemic to address.
Thursday, the CCSD Board of Trustees reviewed spending to date and district official plans for the rest of the money as parents expressed their concerns that the money wouldn't improve student and staff conditions within the district.
$255,135,214 has already been spent or allocated to a wide range of projects, according to a district report, leaving $507,080,015 to allocate.
One main issue to be addressed, brought forward by National Education Association of Southern Nevada President Vicki Kreidel was whether those funds were actually making it into classes and affecting students directly.
"We need to make sure we give every allowable dollar to support our student's mental health," she said. "I've never seen things like what we're seeing right now."
The district's plan directs the vast bulk of the full funding directly to students to the tune of more than $603,484,985 toward 11 projects including new technology, training for teachers, new study materials, free summer learning in 2023 and potentially 2024, and extra programs and staffing for mental health programs.
"Now, we continue to accelerate," Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara said. "If our kids and our staff are not feeling healthy then you can't teach and they can't learn."
The second main priority in the district's plan was teacher retention and recruitment.
Bonus programs for retention made up the bulk of the section's $93,494,060 allotment, and that has already been paid out according to the district.
The district still has nearly 88% of the funding they've allocated for bonuses to teachers who relocate from more than 100 miles away from the district.
"Out of the 1,700 educators that we've hired, or plus, about 600 we've been able to bring in," Jara said.
Jara said they're allocating funds ahead of their expected schedule to ensure every penny gets out to schools before the federal government's Sept. 30 2024 deadline.
"I'm going to tell you what, we are going to spend all of the money we have," he said. "We're not going to send any back to the federal government. That's not a good look."
CCSD officials said the current spending plan would remain flexible and will likely go through another revision sometime during the winter months.
