As a rotating cast of the state’s top K-12 education officials presented to lawmakers this week, two words came up more than any others: funding and accountability. 

At one end of the spectrum, those leaders lauded lawmakers and the governor’s office for the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan, an overhaul of the state’s funding formula now set to distribute an added $2 billion in the next biennium. That will boost per-pupil spending by roughly $2,000, an increase of more than 20 percent. 

But so, too, did those leaders — including superintendents from the state’s rural and urban centers, as well as State Superintendent Jhone Ebert — point to a funding hole still unfilled by the promised new money.  

“National reports show that Nevada is still last in the country for per-pupil funding, and yet our educators and students continue to perform,” Ebert told the committee. “Imagine the lengths that we could go to for children with a stronger investment.”

Ebert said the $2,000-per-pupil increase in the governor’s recommended budget still leaves Nevada $2,700 short of the national per-pupil average of $14,337.

At the same time, district leaders warned that the existing formula structures still left other funding priorities in the lurch, especially for much-needed renovation and construction work. 

Wayne Workman, Lyon County’s superintendent, told the committee that it had become “nearly impossible” to retrofit aging, historic schools to meet modern-day educational needs, especially in rural Nevada. 

“As an individual taxpayer, I love the amount that I pay for property tax,” Workman said. “As a person leading a school district, it makes it literally impossible to renovate schools and to build new schools. Those property tax abatements, the cap on the property tax, is absolutely devastating to school districts.”

Even still, lawmakers on the Senate Education Committee grilled those superintendents, especially Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara, over what accountability measures they could expect in exchange for any serious changes to funding. 

“This morning I thought to myself, ‘We have this hearing today. Am I going to hear the superintendent ask for more money?”’ Sen. Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas) told Jara. “But the question always comes back to accountability … I think we all have to agree on what should be the accountability measures we expect if you’re given what you deem as optimal funding.”

The questioning comes as Gov. Joe Lombardo looks to fulfill a campaign promise on increased K-12 accountability through executive order, demanding schools districts statewide turn over existing third-party audits to the Governor’s Finance Office by March. Separately, legislative Democrats have backed a bill, SB64, that would audit K-12 districts every five years. 

Jara, for his part, suggested that “I think we have to evolve” certain accountability metrics.

“Currently, right now, do we have any metrics for students to graduate high school? We do not, and that’s a conversation that we do need to have,” Jara said. “And also the expectation when the resources are coming in, where does it go into the budget, and then how do we hold adults accountable? That’s a conversation that we all need to have.”

Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in Behind the Bar, The Nevada Independent’s newsletter dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the 2023 Legislature. Sign up for the newsletter here.