LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After learning about the Clark County School District budget shortfall weeks ago— the superintendent of public instruction for the Nevada Department of Education, Jhone Ebert, demanded answers.
The district sent a two-page letter to the state Thursday explaining the reasons for the deficit, stating they were short about $20 million.
You can read CCSD's response letter here:
She said one issue is some teacher raises were not accounted for.
"They knew that there was contract negotiations, they knew there were new salary numbers coming and they didn't clearly explain to schools that the numbers we were given January were estimates and potentially missing thousands of dollars per teacher," Garcia said.
The letter states there was also a change in what money went to help some at risk students.
"What it means is schools that were seeing at risk fundings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars could've seen that number be cut in half," Garcia said.
Additionally, the change with how at risk student funding is calculated in the state of Nevada is something that the CCSD CFO Jason Goudie would have been fully aware of.
Since the budget chaos surfaced, the CFO has been terminated.
Governor Joe Lombardo has demanded the Department of Taxation to take a look at where the budget went wrong.
The Nevada Department of Education also responded— stating they are looking into the district's explanation and follow up if needed.
UPCOMING:
On the agenda at the Oct. 10 Board of Trustees meeting, the board will consider paying $50,000 to hire a third party company to review the budget.
Garcia said she still thinks this could've and should've been avoided.
"The challenge is it shouldn't have had happened and some of it CCSD was well aware of in January and could have communicated to schools that they needed to be aware that they may not have the final budget numbers," Garcia said.
CCSD's latest effort to explain their budget deficit raises more questions than answers. Channel 13 looks forward to the governor's investigation and the legislative commission efforts to get to the bottom of this mismanagement.
