Clark County schools did not spend $6.1M to reduce class sizes, audit shows

CARSON CITY — An audit of Nevada’s more than $160 million a year class size reduction program in public schools showed the funds were used appropriately to reach targeted pupil-teacher ratios.

But the audit did find that the Clark County School District did not spend $6.1 million in class size reduction funding for its kindergarten classes, and failed to return the money during the 2013-15 biennium, as required by state law.

The audit by the Legislative Counsel Bureau staff was reviewed and accepted Wednesday by the Legislative Commission’s Audit Subcommittee. The panel was told by auditors that since the report was finalized, the Clark County School District has returned the unspent funds to the state Department of Education.

The Clark County School District received $11 million for fiscal year 2014 to provide a pupil-teacher ratio of 21 to 1 in one-third of its full-day kindergarten classes and in all of the half-day classes. It spent $7.8 million of the total.

In fiscal year 2015 the district received $17.7 million and spent $14.8 million.

School district personnel said the full amounts were not spent because of an inability to hire enough teachers and because of problems in setting up enough classrooms. The Department of Education did not detect the unspent funds due to an inadequate review, the audit found.

The class-size reduction program began in 1991 for grades one through three.

Targeted ratios in the 2014 and 15 fiscal years was 21:1 in most kindergartens with a 16:1 ratio in at risk classes, 16:1 in grades two and three and 19:1 in grade 3.

Clark County received $122 million for the primary class-size reduction program in 2014 and $127 million in 2015.

While the funds were spent appropriately on the program, the audit found that the Department of Education needs to better monitor the ratios to ensure they are met.

The audit made two recommendations, both of which were accepted by the Education Department.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.