education funding

Nevada's 2019 legislative session is officially over. To help break down the session and the hundreds of measures passed over the past four months, KUNR's Paul Boger chats with Bree Zender.

At midnight, Nevada’s 2019 legislative session will be over. But even though there are less than 24 hours until sine die, lawmakers still have a lot left on their agenda. To discuss the latest from the Capital City, we turn to KUNR’s Senior Political Reporter Paul Boger.

Lawmakers in Nevada are set to approve a measure meant to overhaul the state’s education funding mechanism. The measure would, in part, streamline the funding process and move the state to what's called a student weighted funding formula. Supporters say the change would add transparency while at the same time sending money to where it's most needed. Opponents, however, argue this bill would hurt rural districts.

Lawmakers in the Nevada Senate are advancing a bill that could totally overhaul the way the state pays for public K-12 education. Senate Bill 543 would move the state away from the 52-year-old Nevada Plan to what’s called a weighted student formula. To breakdown what that means and how the shift could affect education for years to come, KUNR’s Paul Boger spoke with Zahava Stadler, the Policy Director for Ed-Build, a national non-profit that studies the way states pay for schools.

With little more than two weeks until the end of 2019’s legislative session, lawmakers in Carson City are beginning to work feverishly to put the final touches on hundreds of pieces of legislation. To break some of that down for us, I’m joined KUNR’s Political Reporter Paul Boger.

There are more than 2,300 students currently enrolled in Nevada’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program, otherwise known as Opportunity Scholarships. It gives students from low and middle-income families aid to help pay tuition at qualified private K-12 schools. While the program has remained popular since its inception, Democratic leaders are considering a measure that would cap the program at current levels.

Nevada’s 80th legislative session begins this week. For the next 120 days, lawmakers will debate everything from healthcare reform to education funding to gun control. KUNR’s Senior Political Reporter, Paul Boger, will be in Carson City covering the whole thing. He sat down with KUNR News Director Michelle Billman to talk about some of the major issues that are likely to come up this session.

Nevada's new Democratic Governor, Steve Sisolak, is calling on lawmakers to increase funding for public schools, protect the Affordable Care Act, and pass gun control measures as part of his first State of the State Address.

Seven education programs are receiving funding from Tesla, which is giving $1.5 million to promote STEM learning in Nevada. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Our contributor Kaleb Roedel of the Northern Nevada Business View reports.