Will CCSD Get Its Weighted Funding from the Legislature?

This story originally aired on KNPR and you can listen and read here.

Clark County School District must undergo a massive reorganization as set by the state’s Legislature in 2015.

But CCSD has filed a lawsuit against the state, saying essentially that this was an unfunded mandate.

A key part of that is the issue of weighted funding – in other words, some students – such as special needs or gifted and talented – need more per-pupil funding than others.

The legislature punted the implementation of a weighted funding formula to 2021, but school reorganization is happening now.

State Sen. Joyce Woodhouse is the chair of the senate finance committee and the vice-chair of the senate education committee. She is also a veteran of the Clark County School District.

According to Woodhouse, under the reorganization plan the money follows the student, which could cause an huge inequality in schools.

“Because the reorganization is based on the fact that the funds that are identified per student follow that child,” she explained, “If school ‘X’ has a larger amount of students who are special ed, for example, they will get more money.”

While on the surface that might seem workable, Sylvia Lazos, the policy director for Educate Nevada Now, explained it could hurt schools that are currently doing well.

“It would cause great pain in Clark County to have weights without additional money,” she said.