Nevada lawmakers are moving forward with a measure aimed at implementing the state’s new pupil-centered funding plan. Educators were among the bill’s toughest critics.
The Senate Finance Committee approved SB439late yesterday evening, just a day after lawmakers introduced the measure. It would officially implement the state’s new pupil-centered funding plan. It’s a mechanism lawmakers created in 2019 to shift K-12 funding from a traditional program and enrollment-based model toward one more focused on individual student needs.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert hailed the plan as the future of K-12 in Nevada.
“This work is difficult, but it couldn't it be more important than at this moment where we are currently redesigning the future of education,” she said while presenting the measure to lawmakers.
Educators, on the other hand, had a wholly different take.
Among their top concerns is the lack of additional K-12 funding in the bill. To fully implement the plan would cost the state an additional $2 billion over the next decade, according to the state commission that drafted the funding mechanism.
It’s has also drawn criticism for not doing enough to guarantee future revenue increases for public schools in rural areas. Chris Daly is the Government Affairs Director for the Nevada State Education Association. According to him, the teacher’s union has remained opposed to the measure since its inception in the 2019 session.
“Nevada deserves a significantly more inclusive and transparent process on such a major policy shift, and we were promised our voices would be heard this session,” Daly said. “Yet, here we are, with SB439 developed behind closed doors with no stakeholder input or even a preview of its content this time.”
Despite the objections from the state teacher's union, members of the Clark County Education Association voiced support for the bill. They say it will send money where it's most needed.