Teacher Vacancies Highlight Budget and Inequity Issues

463 – that is the number of vacancies at the Clark County School District at the beginning of this school year.

This is a great improvement from where CCSD was two years ago when it started the school year with more than one thousand vacancies.

This progress has to be credited to the most recent contract negotiations which resulted in increasing the starting salary from $34,000 to $40,000 for new CCSD teachers — finally starting salaries that are more competitive.  SB 511 sweetened the pot by funding bonuses for teachers who signed on to Title I schools.  Other benefits of the CCSD teacher contract put the average teacher salary at around $56,000 through step increases that resulted in raises more quickly, and made CCSD’s compensation competitive with the national average of $57,000.

It’s always hard to put a value to the amazing work our teachers do for our students. The new bargained for salary increases and the Nevada Legislature’s bonus incentives were definitely steps in the right direction. However, the current 463 vacancies highlight two fundamental problems that have not been addressed.