COMMENTARY: Clark County School District is facing a financial crisis

Your Oct. 8 editorial, “Accountability: Failing charter school shut down,” once again gives an inaccurate representation of school funding in Nevada.

The editorial maintains, “The whole (education) system is set up to be successful at one thing — increasing spending.” In fact, Clark County School District schools have been doing more even though the district receives considerably less per-pupil funding compared with most other large urban school districts in the nation.

Nevada’s existing education funding formula was created in 1967. It is outdated and does not keep up with inflation, let alone rising employee and health care costs.

Nevada must move forward in resetting per-pupil spending to accurately reflect current costs. The latest data from the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities shows Nevada schools continue to work with lower levels of funding than we had prior to the recession in 2008, accounting for inflation.

Based on the state of Nevada’s own reports, the share of the state’s general fund that goes toward K-12 funding declined from 39 percent in fiscal 2016 to 36 percent in fiscal 2019.

I would encourage the public to read more in the 2019 iNVest report, which is the product of the collective work of Nevada’s 17 county school superintendents. The report explains how a confluence of factors — including recession budget cuts, caps on local property taxes and an outdated funding formula that does not allow schools to benefit from economic growth or new revenues — has led to a financial crisis. That’s not just for Clark County, but also for most school districts in the state. You can find the report on ccsd.net.

Recent editorials from the Review-Journal continue to mislead the public about both funding and achievement at the Clark County School District. My colleagues and I are dedicated to correcting the inaccurate information you have presented to your readers because our children — and the entire community — deserve better.

We will not rise in national rankings until we are all open and honest with each other. I would ask you and your readers to join with us to scrutinize every dollar spent at the district, to hold us accountable for student achievement and also to have an honest discussion about education funding in Nevada.

Carolyn Edwards is vice president of the Clark County School District Board of Trustees.