Bill would reclassify money for Clark County schools

A bill that would tweak the 2015 mandated reorganization of the Clark County School District would reclassify certain funds used for schools, a move the district said would decrease the burden on principals.

The reorganization aimed to increase local control over money, requiring schools to create their own budgets and classifying money as restricted or unrestricted. Restricted funds currently are classified as money required to be spent on a certain item by law, such as Title I funds, or by the Department of Education.

The rest of the money is known as unrestricted funds, 85 percent of which must be spent on schools and 15 percent on central services.

Senate Bill 469, discussed Tuesday in the Assembly education committee, would classify restricted funds as any money that is necessary for the district to carry out its responsibilities. It would also require the district to increase its unrestricted funding ratio to 90 percent for schools.

The school district’s Chief Financial Officer Jason Goudie told legislators that the change is meant to allow the district to take responsibility for certain services — especially transportation and utilities — that schools aren’t equipped to handle on their own.

Under the current reorganization process, some basic services that all schools need are provided through service-level agreements completed for each school.

“We have heard from many principals that ultimately they don’t want to control most of the systematic or systemic operations … they want us to provide quality services so they can focus on their role as instructional leaders,” Goudie said.

While the bill got support from the Nevada State Education Association and the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees, a number of parents and school organizational team members spoke in opposition.

Parents argue that the language redefining restricted funds could exempt hundreds of millions of dollars in the district from going to schools.

Former Republican Assemblyman Stephen Silberkraus, who worked on the 2015 law, said there is a self-serving motive in central administration, which he said is focused more on preserving power than the interests of students and staff.

“The district leadership has fought at every step to avoid implementing and following the law,” he said.

The committee took no action on the bill.

Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.