Community wants more transparency with CCSD

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Clark County School District is facing a potential budget deficit and other budget miscalculations that have resulted in teachers being laid off from schools across the Valley and programs being eliminated, all of which impacts our students.

At Thursday night's school board meeting, CCSD's interim superintendent announced that the core budget deficit of $20 million has now been reduced to nearly $11 million.

Some trustees argued the number was minimal compared to the district's $4 billion budget.

But those who see major impacts at schools say otherwise and don't believe the district is bearing the full extent of the situation.

“I still don’t understand how this happened. “Where did this happen?” said Marie Neisess, president of the Clark County Education Association.

This was the first public discussion of ongoing budget problems plaguing the district since Crisis in the Classroom broke the story three weeks ago.

CFO Jason Goudie was fired just days later, but it's still not clear if it had anything to do with budgets.

But even in a presentation there are now more questions than answers, some say.

“If you say, well, we didn’t know the actual amount,” Neisess said. “We didn’t know that. We didn't know that. Who didn’t know?”

Larsen-Mitchell broke down two budget issues, one at the central level and one at the school level.

For the district's central budget, increased cybersecurity and litigation costs amounting to millions were mentioned as issues.

When it comes to strategic school budgets, the district says an 8 percent salary increase for teachers was not included in the spring budgets.

They also said inaccurate data had been used to fund at-risk schools.

“The CFO was also a member of the committee that changed the rating from “risk” to “graduate.” “So what happened?” Neisess said. “How did he not know when he presented the budget that this was the change?”

Due to school budget changes, some campuses have had to cut staff and programs.

“It's incredibly stressful to be overworked, especially as an educator,” said Vicki Kreidel, president of the National Education Association of Southern Nevada. “You are told that you can no longer work in the building you were in. And some people choose and apply to schools that are close to their home. Now everything is up in the air.”

“It's a crisis when you give your rating to teachers who offer after-school tutoring programs and are trying to transfer from a one-star school,” Neisess said.

There were questions during Thursday's meeting about when the district learned of the budget issues.

“We knew in the spring that we would be operating tight based on the raises our employees had earned, including unforeseen expenses such as litigation and cybersecurity expenses,” Larsen-Mitchell said.

But Trustee Isaac Barron questioned what safeguards were in place when warning signs emerged.

“I recognize your concern, I understand your concern, Trustee Barron, and we must do better,” Dr. Larsen Mitchell. “We have identified the root causes of inadequate processes, documentation, communication and protocols.”

Barron believes the timing doesn't make sense.

“The deal with the teachers union that put it all together was done in December and January when the budget process began,” he said. “So I would have thought there would be enough time to compensate for some things.”

Barron hopes to get clarity at the next board meeting.

“What is being done to ensure that this doesn't happen again, and we're going to have other questions about how severe this will be, for example, and what impact it will have on our Title One schools,” he said.

There will be further discussion of the budget during the Oct. 24 board meeting, where Barron hopes to get more answers.

One thing we mentioned on Thursday night is that steps will be taken in advance of future budgets, including holding meetings with school leaders when they release spring allocations and providing access to their budgets to see if There are errors or changes that need to be made in a timely manner.