Federal bill offers up $162M for Nevada schools, Medicaid
A $26 billion federal jobs bill to protect and restore jobs for 300,000 teachers and non-federal government workers was approved on Tuesday by the U.S. House and signed by President Barack Obama, sparking local education officials to begin identifying critical areas where teachers might be hired.
About $10 billion of the jobs bill to prevent election year layoffs would go to hire teachers and some classroom support staff, with $83 million potentially coming to Nevada, including between $12 million to $17 million for Washoe County schools.
But in its application for the funds, the state must demonstrate that it can maintain state funding at a certain level in order to receive the funds. State Department of Education Superintendent Keith Rheault said that he has forwarded some education funding information to the budget office to determine which of three state education funding tests Nevada could pass to be eligible for the money.
“And I still have to provide some information to the governor’s office on why we want to apply for the funds, the pros and cons,” he said.
The application process should be relatively streamlined, Rheault said.
“Certainly, we’re happy how quickly this is moving because, clearly, the goal is to get teachers into schools this year,” Washoe County Schools Superintendent Heath Morrison said. “The next big hurdle is the governor has to sign off in this, and we have to wait to see if that will happen.”
Washoe County School officials have identified critical areas for which they would hire more teachers but would not select a plan before the federal government released regulations that clearly state what they can spend the money on and how long they will have to spend it, said Kristen McNeill, director of state and federal programs at K-16 Initiatives.
Among the critical areas of need:
» Restoring class size in first through third grades to about 16 or 17 to one. Because of the $37 million revenue shortfall, school officials saved $6 million by increasing class size by two students in those grades.
» Providing more teachers at schools with a high enrollment of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, but do not meet the threshold of 70 percent needed to receive extra funding.
» All schools that are in need of improvement, according to yearly progress assessments, which will be released in the coming week. Enrollment numbers also will be a factor in which schools could be targeted.
» Full-day kindergarten also might receive consideration.
Morrison said plans are in place, people that can be hired are being identified and district officials will communicate with principals about needs.
“We’re going to be prepared for this as any large school district in the country,” he said.
Libby Booth Elementary School principal Stacey Senini said she has fewer teachers available to work directly with students since the class-size increase.
“As a result of increasing class size, you have less staff to work with smaller groups of students,” she said.
McNeill stressed that more about the bill remains to be clarified.
“If I don’t have the exact regulations in front of me, it’s hard for me to speak to which schools we would be able to hit with this funding,” McNeill said.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s staff has 45 days to draft regulations, McNeill said. “We’re thinking that’s going to be a little quicker than 45 days,” she said. “And the governor has 30 days to accept the funding.”
A provision in the legislation said that if a governor chooses not to accept the money, then the money can be allocated to a different agency, such as the Nevada Department of Education.