Consultant proposes changing Nevada education funding
Clark County schools would receive more money, and other Nevada public schools would receive less, if legislators follow through on a consultant's suggested reslicing of the pie to make state education funding more equitable.
Clark County's state and local funding would increase from $5,068 to $5,390 per pupil if four suggested adjustments are made, but other county districts would experience cuts, ranging from $96 less per student in Washoe County to $4,408 less per student in Esmeralda County. The rural county northwest of Clark County receives the most funding under the state's current formula, getting $17,508 per student.
This disparity is the reason for hiring the consultant, American Institutes for Research, which found few adjustments to the funding formula had been made since 1967, investigator Jay Chambers said. He presented the study Tuesday to a legislative committee looking at a new funding method.
The institute found the "outdated" funding structure, called the Nevada Plan, overpays rural teachers, overfunds rural districts and doesn't provide extra funding to cover the high cost of teaching students in poverty and English language learners, which most states already do, he said.
If Nevada corrected those things, the modifications would expand the financial slice given to Nevada's largest school district, Clark County, which enrolls more than two-thirds of the state's students. But 16 other districts would receive smaller slices.
"These suggestions would take some serious policy adjustments," Chambers said.
As an example of a flaw, he pointed to Nevada's Count Day, done once every fall to determine school funding based on the number of students at school that day.
Many states have two or three count days a year, giving officials a reason to keep students in school. Having just one count day could be contributing to Nevada's high dropout rate, suggested Teresa Jordan, investigator and professor emeritus of education at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The Nevada dropout rate is about 4 percent, according to the state Department of Education. Most statistics of student performance rank Nevada in the bottom quarter among the 50 states. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's national Kids Count report, released in July, ranked Nevada dead last in education.
"The pattern over time is not flattering," Jordan said.
Along those lines, Nevada's system for distributing education funding earned an F in comparison to other states, according to a report by Rutgers University's Education Law Center in New Jersey.
Nevada's consultant has found that the state gives more money to "districts that in actuality have lower than average labor costs." It determined that by looking at the National Center for Education Statistics' Comparable Wage Index, comparing the cost of all workers that can demand higher wages in areas with a higher cost of living or lack of amenities.
Using the index would favor urban Clark and Washoe counties but take money from all the rural counties.
The other changes would involve weighting the cost of educating students. Some students are more expensive to teach than others based on their needs. For example, students who are English language learners.
To cover that burden, a district would receive double the normal per-pupil funding for each of these students. For poor students, a district would receive 34 percent more funding for each of these students.
These students are usually concentrated in urban areas, such as Clark County, where a quarter of students have limited English skills and half meet the definition of poor.
"The weighting is really important," said Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, who said it's "no surprise" Clark County would receive more funding under the study.
The question is whether the committee will draft a bill. That remained uncertain as the committee heard the results and suggestions for the first time Tuesday, offering little reaction.
Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
