Clark, Washoe school districts pay for share of funding study

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's two largest school districts and a Clark County education organization have contributed more than one-third of the $125,000 cost of a legislative study to determine whether the state properly funds public schools.

The donor list is topped by the Clark County School District, which gave $25,000, and the Washoe County School District, which contributed $15,000. Another $9,500 was donated by the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees.

Clark County Associate Superintendent Joyce Haldeman released the donor list Thursday.

State Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, had requested the information March 2 during a meeting of the Legislature's New Method for Funding Public Schools Committee. Haldeman said at the time that the donor list was available, but she had not brought it to the committee.

The Clark County district requested the study during the 2011 legislative session in part because the current Nevada Plan for funding schools has been used since 1967 and may no longer be adequate to handle the current school population.

At hearings, Haldeman, also a lobbyist for the Southern Nevada school district, noted that in 1967, 95 percent of students were white. Today the school population is increasingly Hispanic, and many students of all ethnic backgrounds come from poor families.

As it is now, the state considers all sources of revenue for school districts and wealth factors in each county. As a result, Clark and Washoe students receive slightly less per capita than those in rural counties.

The committee is expected to choose an education consultant in April to conduct the study, which would be completed in August.

Other donations for the study included $10,000 each from the Council for a Better Nevada, the Harrah's Foundation, Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International, Stations Casinos and Wynn Resorts.

R&S Investment Properties and Boyd Gaming each contributed $5,000, and $2,500 came from Daniel and Suzanne Lee, $2,000 from Kristina and Dale Quigley and $1,000 from Duncan Lee.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.