k-12 education

Gov. Steve Sisolak is proposing a two-year budget that reverses cuts to Medicaid and other key K-12 programs made last summer, after financial projections left the state at what officials are calling an “inconsistent, if not positive, ending point” for tax revenue.

Lawmakers finalized hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to state agencies on Sunday, adjusting a budget that is set to lose a quarter of the revenue previously projected because of the pandemic and wrapping up a protracted session marked by false starts and delays.

The Assembly approved an omnibus budget bill a second time Sunday morning, this time with an amendment allocating tens of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief funding toward boosting alternative education strategies during the pandemic, winning over several Republican lawmakers who opposed the proposal 15 hours earlier.

Members of the Assembly took the first step to formally slash hundreds of millions of dollars from state budget accounts to close a $1.2 billion budget gap Saturday evening.

More than a hundred teachers, parents and community members took to Carson Street in Carson City on Wednesday to protest proposed budget cuts to education.

Nevada lawmakers will convene on Wednesday morning for the first time since mid-2019 for what is expected to be a painful special session cutting $1.2 billion out of the state’s budget.

Gov. Steve Sisolak has released a proposal ahead of a special legislative session slated to begin Wednesday in Carson City that would slash and shift hundreds of millions of dollars from agency budgets and other programs to close an estimated $1.2 billion shortfall caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Steve Sisolak has released a plan to fill an $812 million shortfall caused by plummeting tax revenues amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as business closures earlier this spring designed to halt the spread of the virus brought the economy to a sputtering halt.

Nevada lawmakers voted along party lines to approve transferring the entirety of the state’s ‘Rainy Day Fund’ reserve budgetary account to plug massive holes in the state’s budget.

As part of Tesla’s K-12 Investment Fund, the Carson City School District is pleased to announce it is the most recent recipient of nearly a million dollars in grant funding. The money will help fund a district-wide sustainability initiative for the next three years.

CARSON CITY — Mark Twain Elementary School has been selected to receive funding and support for the next five years to build and maintain a FIRST LEGO League team for students in grades 4-8, ages 9-14. The funding opportunity, totaling more than $6,150 over the course of the next five years, comes as part of the Tesla K-12 Education Investment in Nevada program.

Nietzsche wrote that "Without music, life would be a mistake." But thanks to band teacher Nicolas Jacques, that's a mistake no one is making at Carson Middle School in Carson City. Music is everywhere in the school, the district and the surrounding community as students throng to join Jacques’ concert band, marching band and jazz band ensembles.

Students and teachers at the two middle schools in Carson City — Carson Middle and Eagle Valley Middle Schools — now have access to a curricular program that will give students an advantage in their education and future careers. The opportunity was made possible with the help of Tesla’s K-12 Education Investment Fund, the Nevada Department of Education and Project Lead The Way.

Gov. Steve Sisolak announced the appointment Tuesday of Stacey Montooth to the Nevada Indian Commission where she will serve as executive director beginning Sept. 1, 2019.

This is the sixth in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

The first two columns showed that since FY06 state spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy, thus imposing an ever-larger real burden on Nevada families and businesses, whose real per-capita incomes are lower now than in FY06. The next two analyses reviewed spending on health and social services and on K-12 education, the two largest budget items by far and the only major areas on which spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy.

This is the fifth in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

The first two columns showed that since FY06 state spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy, thus imposing an ever-larger real burden on Nevada families and businesses, whose real per-capita incomes are lower now than in FY06. The other two analyses reviewed spending on health and social services and on K-12 education, the two largest budget items by far and the only major areas on which spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy.

This is the fourth in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2018 (FY18).

The first two columns showed that since FY06 state spending has grown faster than Nevada’s economy, thus imposing an ever-larger real burden on Nevada families and businesses, whose real incomes are lower now than in FY06. The third one noted Health and Social Services spending, the largest budget item, has grown most rapidly by far, driven greatly by federal health care mandates and funding.

Hundreds of raucous public education advocates gathered in front of the Legislature in Carson City and the Grant Sawyer Building in Las Vegas on day 15 of the 2019 session to call for increased funding for K-12 education in Nevada.

This week kicks off “School Choice Week,” an annual awareness movement that supports parents and children being able to choose their own schooling options, and Nevada students came out to support the cause by marching in front of the Capitol building in Carson City Tuesday morning.

This is the second in a series of columns summarizing my Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2018 (FY18). Based on the state’s official books and records, the CAR provides Nevada citizens, officials and others summaries of key facts, data, analysis and issues addressing Nevada’s fiscal condition and policy challenges.

CARSON CITY — Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval issued the following statement Friday regarding the 2019-2021 budget building process and priorities:

CARSON CITY — Three quarters of Nevada adults attended a cultural event in the past year and an equal percentage believe the arts improves the quality of life in their communities, according to the poll “Americans Speak Out About the Arts in 2018.”

Primary and secondary education (K-12) has been the second fastest growing category of Nevada state spending over the past decade, rising from $1.24-billion in fiscal year 2006 (FY06) to $2.22-billion in FY17. It grew 33 percent faster than the incomes of Nevada families and businesses.

Tesla announced an initial $1.5 million in funding grants at Thursday's Nevada Board of Education meeting. The grant is the first funds towards its agreement to contribute $37.5 million over five years to K-12 education in Nevada.

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Department of Education has announced the launch of a first-of-its kind education-to-workforce initiative known as LifeWorks with a goal of developing more skilled workers for Nevada’s new economy.

This fourth column on the Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) analyzes state taxes. Nevada collected $5.523 billion in taxes in fiscal year 2017, which was 41 percent of total state revenues. As discussed in our previous column, program revenues made up 56 percent, with miscellaneous items at three percent.

The largest tax sources were sales and use taxes ($1.285 billion or 23 percent of general revenues of $5.895 billion), gaming taxes ($897 million or 16 percent) and unemployment assessments ($825 million, or ten percent). All other taxes totaled $2.516 billion, or 43 percent).

his is the second column based on the Controller’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2017 (FY17). Here we disclose where the state spends its money.

Total state spending for FY17 was $12.29 billion: $11.033 billion (90 percent) from regular state accounts, including pass-through federal funds; $1.211 billion (ten percent) from tuition, fees, contracts, grants and other service charges by higher education; and $46 million in two other areas. The total was 74 percent higher than in FY06, or 17 percent more in real per-person terms.

We have just issued the Controller’s Annual Report (CAR) for fiscal year 2017 (FY17). Here we provide an overview of it. Future columns will discuss individual sections.

The CAR provides Nevada citizens, officials and others a summary of key facts, data, analysis and issues about the state’s fiscal condition and challenges. The Controller has a statutory charge to recommend plans for: support of public credit; promoting frugality and economy; better management of the state’s fiscal affairs; and better understanding of them.

This is the third column in a series presenting the findings and conclusions of Nevada’s 2016 Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR), posted at controller.nv.gov. Here, we address health and social services.

The figures reported in the PAFR and discussed here come from the actual numbers in the state’s official financial reports. They are not estimates, future projections or budgeted or requested amounts. Just the actual revenue numbers from state books and records.

This is the second column in a series presenting the findings and conclusions of Nevada’s 2016 Popular Annual Financial Report, posted at controller.nv.gov. Here, we address state revenues.

The tax and other revenue figures reported in the PAFR and discussed here come from the actual numbers in the state’s official financial reports. They are not estimates, future projections or budgeted or requested amounts. Just the actual revenue numbers from state books and records.