LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Nevada Department of Education is asking the Clark County School District to show their work after a series of follow-up questions on the district budget shortfall were sent to interim superintendent Dr. Brenda Larsen-Mitchell on Monday.
For context, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert sent a letter to the district in September asking for detailed explanations on a budget shortfall within CCSD. Gov. Joe Lombardo also called on state resources to investigate the school district's budget issues.
On Oct. 3, Larsen-Mitchell answered the department's questions and identified a potential $20 million central budget deficit.
Budget Shortfall Response_1... by aroberts.news
During a Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 10, Larsen-Mitchell revised the amount to a new estimate of $10.9 million. Still, the state is requesting more information and elaboration.
"The very specific questions from Superintendent Ebert shows the state is paying attention," said Rebecca Dirks Garcia.
Dirks Garcia serves on three School Organizational Teams (SOTs) across CCSD, and has seen the district's current budget chaos impacts firsthand. SOTs are comprised of parents, teachers, and administrators who provide guidance and budget oversight for a particular school.
"One of our largest responsibilities is to review and provide input on the budget, yet we are entirely dependent on CCSD handing those budget numbers to us," Dirks Garcia said.
It comes down to allocation.
Nevada law requires school districts to publish yearly reports outlining the amount of state funds going to their local school precincts. These reports are due on or before January 15.
According to Larsen-Mitchell, the school district had to make amendments to these reports after they were published on January 15 based on new information. But what is that new information? This is what the state is aiming to find out.
In addition to the request for this information, the state also wants answers on:
- how and when the district obtained this information,
- the procedures the district used to amend the reports based on this information,
- and how local school precincts were notified of the changes.
The district previously stated that its central budget shortfall has not affected funding for individual schools. The district said its central budget problem comes from unintended expenses for litigation and cybersecurity.
Outside the central budget deficit
Schools across the district are facing an entirely different budgetary challenge: the miscalculation of at-risk funding and the failure to incorporate teacher raises from collective bargaining agreements into the budget.
At-risk funding miscalculations
Larsen-Mitchell said in her Oct. 3 letter that at-risk funding in the district's budget was inaccurately developed on Free-and-Reduced-Lunch eligibility rather than GRAD scores — a state measurement tool that identifies a student's likelihood to graduate or move onto the next grade level.
GRAD scores are among the tools the state uses to determine at-risk funding, not Free-and-Reduced-Lunch.
What is at-risk funding?
- At-Risk funding is additional money schools across the valley receive from the state for students who are considered English language learners, special education students, or kids who just need extra help meeting academic standards.
According to Larsen-Mitchell, this discrepancy was adjusted in the fall 2024 budget — but the state wants more explanation and a timeline of the mistake, including what steps were taken to fix it.
The district detailed further explanation of its budget woes at its Oct. 10 board meeting, stating:
"The potential central budget deficit did not in any way impact what was allocated to schools nor what it is costing schools to purchase positions or services. Plain and simple. What they are experiencing is the result of the incorrect allocation of at-risk funds in the spring. In some cases, schools budget an amount of money they should not have been allocated. They were, in some cases, over-allocated in January. That number was trued up in the fall, so they are experiencing that as a budget cut, for sure, but the reality is those dollars should not have been allocated in the first place,"
But for some schools, the damage has already been dealt. Several schools have had to eliminate some staff positions and academic programs after they planned their budgets on inaccurate allocations given to them by the district.
WATCH | CCSD parent says cut to at-risk funding affecting students, could have been avoided
Teacher raises not accounted for
Another question the state wants answered is the district's failure to factor in the $5,700 increase in teacher salaries to the budget, despite collective bargaining agreements with the teachers' union.
A timeline presented by Larsen-Mitchell at the Oct. 10 board meeting offered some insight, but it didn't quell all of the concerns from parents and staff district-wide.
"We also learned on Sept. 12, 2024, that the average salary costs of positions was underprojected in January 2024," Larsen-Mitchel told trustees. "We communicated a potential budget deficit and provided additional guidance on Sept. 13, 2024."
"But way back in January and February, CCSD should have communicated to SOTs that those numbers were not final, and they didn't," Dirks Garcia told Channel 13.
Holding the district accountable
Dirks Garcia is one of many — including Ebert — who continue to have questions about what went wrong in the district to create a nearly $11 million deficit.
The state is aiming to hold the district accountable for these budget miscalculations by requesting that CCSD outline the steps it's taking to improve financial control and avoid future mistakes. They're also asking if Larsen-Mitchell knew if these errors were preventable and/or defensible.
Dirks Garcia told Channel 13 that she's glad to see the state stepping in again, this time with 22 more detailed follow-up questions for CCSD.
"The state wants to get real, accurate information," she said. "Not just numbers, but they want to know the timeline of how these mistakes happened and why they weren't communicated to schools in a timely manner."
Larsen-Mitchell must provide answers to the Nevada Department of Education by 3 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2024, and a CCSD spokesperson told Channel 13 via email that "they will respond within the time frame requested."
