LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Earlier this year, Nevada lawmakers approved a bill that was designed to give teachers in the state a raise.
To date, the $250 million that legislators earmarked for those raises has not been touched, which has led to debate within a bitter contract dispute between the Clark County School District and the teacher union that represents its educators.
"I've been going through this for 20 years with CCSD and for a long time, the money wasn't there," said Jeremy Christensen, a math teacher at Arbor View High School. "But now the money's there and that's what's hard to take."
Actually, the money from Senate Bill 231 is sort of there. It's there, but it still needs to be approved for each school district in the state.
All school districts need to formally apply for their share of the money, according to an official from the Legislative Council Bureau, but each district's share won't be decided until October at the earliest.
That's when the state's Interim Finance Committee next meets. It's the committee that must sign off on what all the districts get.
Since it's the largest district — by far — in Nevada, CCSD will receive a sizable chunk. District officials said this week in a news release that they expect to receive between $170 million and $180 million.
Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop, D-Clark County, was one of the lawmakers who supported the Democrat-backed bill. She says she'd like to see teachers their piece of the pie sooner rather than later.
"We should be paying teachers," Dondero Loop said. "That's what it was for. Senate Bill 231 was identified for funding for teacher raises throughout the state."
As part of their negotiation tactics, district officials have raised concerns about the bill only approving money for raises for two years.
But some lawmakers have countered but pointing out that state budgets are always done every two years because the legislature only meets once every two years.
"That bill says what every other appropriations bill says," Dondero Loop said. "It doesn't matter what the appropriation is for. The money not spent during the budget cycle always goes back to the state, so that money is designed to be spent in that two-year period. We're always on a two-year budget cycle."
According to officials with the LCB, no school districts in Nevada had formally applied to receive Senate Bill 231 funds as of Thursday afternoon.
The Interim Finance Committee meets next on October 11 in Las Vegas.
