Extra funding to boost CCSD teacher pay raises approved

A majority of the allocated funds will go to teachers, in an effort to help attract and retain educators in the state.

The Clark County School District (CCSD) is receiving nearly $174 million in state funds to supplement the teacher pay raises previously agreed upon during contract negotiations with the teachers’ union. 

The funding was allocated during the 2023 Legislative session through SB 231, which set apart $250 million from the state’s general fund to support Nevada’s public schools. CCSD’s appropriation was approved by the legislature’s Interim Finance Committee in a meeting Thursday. 

According to the district, the majority of the allocated funds, about $114.7 million, will go towards raises for the approximately 18,000 licensed CCSD educators; about $58 million will go towards support professionals, and just over $1 million will be allocated to school police officers for the 2024-2025 contract year. 

The funding will also cover retroactive pay for raises that went into effect earlier this year, as well as compensation for employees for working outside their normal hours or taking on additional work in hard-to-fill roles and special education positions for the 2024-2025 contract year. 

“I am hopeful that we can continue to have very productive conversations in the future … so that we can continue to focus on what else we can be doing in education and not worry about whether or not we’re paying people enough to simply take these jobs,” said Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) during the meeting. “That should be a very bare minimum for, not only this state and this legislature, but also for the school district.” 

In December, the teachers union and CCSD agreed to what they called “the most substantial educator contract in the district’s history,” that laid out a 18% raise over the course of the two-year contract: 10% in the first year, which were retroactive to July 1, 2023, and 8% in the second year. 

CCSD currently has 1,700 open licensed educator positions, creating a shortage that the district has not been able to keep up with. Before the negotiated increases, teachers often expressed that they felt underpaid and overworked, pushing many to leave the profession.

The SB 231 funding was passed in the Legislature along with $2 billion in extra funding for education in efforts to push Nevada’s education system out of the bottom spot in national rankings.