A day after an arbitrator ruled on a lengthy contract fight and decided Clark County teachers should get raises of nearly 20 percent, union leaders say they have promises from legislative leaders and the governor to continue some of the state funding that backs those increases but had an uncertain future.

The new two-year contract announced Wednesday includes a 10 percent salary increase in the first year of the contract, an 8 percent increase in the second year and an additional $5,000 for special education teachers and teachers at Title I schools that have a high percentage of students from low-income families and vacancy rates of 5 percent or higher. 

The Clark County School District (CCSD) said teachers could also expect a supplemental 1.875 percent pay increase halfway through the 2023-24 school year that continues through June 30, 2025, to be paid for with the help of a $250 million matching fund created this year through SB231 to support raises for teachers and support staff. 

The supplemental increase, which is pending legislative approval, would offset a pay cut teachers took earlier this year when their expected contributions to the state pension fund was raised. 

Throughout the negotiations, the district and Democratic legislative leaders sparred about whether the SB231 fund would be replenished in the future and whether it should back permanent raises or temporary, conditional ones.

Though the union called the contract historic, Clark County Education Association (CCEA) Executive Director John Vallerdita said the process was “thoroughly mismanaged” by Superintendent Jesus Jara and called Jara “a liability to every child’s education in this state.”

“We have consistently said that the school district needs new leadership. We're firm on that,” Vellardita said during a Thursday press conference. 

The school district did not respond to a request for comment on Vellardita’s criticism about the superintendent.

Vallerdita said the 18 percent increase will be paid for through the district’s general fund, so “there's no dispute whether or not those remain in effect when this contract ends.” 

But the supplemental raise and $5,000 for special education teachers and those at certain Title I schools would be paid for with the help of the SB231 matching fund. 

The news of a contract comes just a week after the Interim Finance Committee (IFC) — a group of lawmakers who make state spending decisions while the Legislature is out of session — refused to consider the district’s application for a share of the SB231 funds because the district hadn’t settled on a new contract agreement for its teachers. Support staff whose raises were delayed by IFC’s inaction said they were being held hostage over another union’s dispute. 

Vellardita denied that lawmakers and CCEA coordinated to table the discussion as a way to put pressure on the district. 

“If we could coordinate things with lawmakers, we would have had a contract nine months ago,” he said. 

Throughout their negotiations, the district and the union have disagreed on how SB231 funds should be spent. The district has argued that any raises funded through SB231 dollars should be temporary as there is no guarantee that lawmakers would renew the bill’s funding. Other school districts have included a sunset clause to proposed SB231-funded raises. 

Meanwhile, CCEA and Democratic lawmakers who sponsored the bill have said the matching funds are no different than any other funding appropriated by the Legislature for the biennial budget and that the district’s concerns the money would not be available in the future were a “ridiculous argument” for not giving raises. 

Vellardita said CCEA has received promises from Gov. Joe Lombardo that he would find additional funding for special education teachers and teachers in hard-to-fill positions. Additionally, he said Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) has promised to renew SB231 funding and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) has committed to a bill draft request that would change the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan to address hard-to-fill positions. 

Yeager was not immediately available to confirm whether he will push this change forward or if that proposal would only apply to CCSD. A spokeswoman for Lombardo confirmed the governor will push for additional funding that will include a combination of general fund and SB231 dollars. 

Vellardita said a provision in the contract states that after the end of the 2025, the district and union will assess whether funding was approved to continue the additional pay for special education teachers and teachers in hard-to-fill positions, increase the amount or if they will need a different compensation plan for those teachers. 

The next IFC meeting is scheduled for February. It is unknown whether lawmakers will approve the district’s plans for SB231, which differs slightly from other school districts whose funding requests have already been approved. 

When asked whether the union has asked lawmakers if this an allowable use of SB231 funding, Vellardita said “it will be approved.”

“We had extensive conversations with the governor and legislative leadership before we moved that proposal on SB231 as to whether or not there was support for that,” Vellardita said. 

Criticism of the contract

Not all teachers are excited about the new contract. Veteran teachers say the lack of a “look back” mechanism, which would have allowed the district to ensure that all teachers were being properly compensated under the district’s salary schedule based on their level of education and number of years of service, will mean many will be making about the same as newer teachers.

Vicki Kreidel, president of the National Education Association of Southern Nevada, a separate teachers union that is often at odds with CCEA, said the district’s salary schedule became inequitable over time after years of freezes on pay raises and was exacerbated after the district raised the starting salary for teachers to about $50,000 last year. 

“It's created tons of inequity and it's causing resentment and it’s causing people to say, ‘Forget this, I'm gonna leave CCSD,’” Kreidel said. 

Vellardita said he wasn’t sure if it was accurate that new teachers could be making the same or more than their veteran counterparts. He said the district had initially proposed a look back, which CCEA made suggestions to, but that proposal “withered away” as negotiations dragged on. 

Next steps

With the contract negotiation behind them, CCEA leaders say their next plans include trying to push Jara out.

Yeager and Cannizzaro have joined the union in its calls for Jara’s resignation. They doubled down on that in a joint statement Wednesday where they said there was “absolutely no reason” why the contract process took this long.

“We have been repeatedly disappointed that throughout this process, Superintendent Jara and his senior leadership have consistently bargained in bad faith, putting their egos above what was best for teachers and students,” they said. “To that end, we reiterate our call for Dr. Jara to resign.”  

Vellardita declined to share what steps the union would take to force Jara out. 

He said CCEA is also looking forward to a change on the school board. Four board members, including President Evelyn Garcia Morales, are nearing the end of their terms. Trustee Lisa Guzman is not seeking another term. 

The CCEA is also continuing its plans to overturn a state law that makes it illegal for teachers and other public employees to go on strike. 

A hearing on CCEA’s lawsuit challenging the state’s anti-strike law is set for Jan. 10. 

Updated at 6:20 p.m. on 12/21/23 to include a new comment from Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office and a request for comment to the Clark County School District that went unanswered.