Hillary Davis / Las Vegas Sun
During a rally for the Clark County Education Association, Executive Director John Vellardita, at podium, speaks, outlining the teachers union’s goals outside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building near downtown Las Vegas as the new Nevada Legislature opened Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Nevada schools
The leader of the Clark County School District’s largest teachers union outlined their legislative priorities for the Nevada Legislature at a rally Monday in Las Vegas, hours after the new government kicked off its biennial session in Carson City.
Clark County Education Association Executive Director John Vellardita, backed by about 100 teachers, said CCSD’s needs include a beefed-up teacher pipeline starting in high school; improved school safety; relief from “administrative burden” on teachers; more control over budgets in the hands of school organization teams; fiscal audits; and, most importantly, increased funding.
Gov. Joe Lombardo and Democratic leadership have already proposed some of these. For others, Vellardita indicated that CCEA has lawmakers ready to carry bills.
Here is CCEA’s vision:
Funding: In his State of the State address in January, Lombardo, a first-term Republican, highlighted a proposed budget that would generally add $2 billion to public schools over the next two years. And last week, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, both Democrats, pitched a $250 million matching fund that specifically incentivizes school districts to boost pay for teachers and school support staff.
Vellardita on Monday said he welcomes the proposals. He said Lombardo's budget pencils out to almost $600 million for CCSD, while the Democrats’ proposal equates to wage raises of at least 10% in the first year, plus inflation adjustments in the second year of the budgetary biennium.
“This has never been done,” he enthusiastically told rally attendees gathered outside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building near downtown Vegas.
Teacher pipeline: He noted, however, that CCSD is still in a deep teacher shortage. The school year started with almost 1,400 vacancies, and “hundreds” of teacher jobs remain open.
“Tens of thousands of students have started this school year, will end this school year, without an effective educator in their classroom. This has to end,” he said. “If there are no educators, what good is the money?”
To remedy that, he said lawmakers, including Assemblywoman Shea Backus, are open to legislation encouraging that every high school have a “teacher academy” that prepares aspiring educators, starting in their teens. Students who complete three years in the program, starting as sophomores, could go to college with 12 credits and free college tuition if they commit to teaching in Nevada.
This would expand the “teaching and training” programs several CCSD high schools already have in their career and technical education departments.
Safety: Vellardita said Nevada’s existing restorative justice law puts “handcuffs” on schools keeping them from immediately removing disruptive students. With the assist from Assemblywoman Angie Taylor, CCEA will promote safety. That will also include treating students’ behavioral health needs with more mental health and social workers in schools.
“Enough of the assaults, enough of the physical abuse — student on student, student on teachers,” Vellardita said.
Reduced administrative tasks and testing: Vellardita said Sen. Rochelle Nguyen will back bills to reduce standardized testing and other tasks that aren’t direct pupil instruction.
Carryover funds: CCEA wants school organization teams, which are groups of parents, community members and staff who advise principals on operations at every campus, to have more authority when it comes time to approve site budgets, and to use up unspent funds every year. Currently, the principal has the ultimate say, and money can be rolled over year to year.
Vellardita said money shouldn’t pile up unspent “so that these schools don't have these mini bank accounts.” Schools could promptly use the funds on projects like after-school reading tutoring, he said.
Fiscal oversight: Vellardita firmly backed Lombardo's plan to review financial audits for all 17 Nevada school districts and the state charter school authority. Lombardo announced an executive order earlier Monday mandating the audits.
Vellardita said CCEA can make a difference at the capitol, citing the mining tax to benefit education that the union supported in 2021.
He said he’s not advocating for new taxes this year.
“But,” he said, “we are advocating accountability and outcomes with the significant investment that's being proposed by the governor and the legislature.”
