Existing law creates the State Education Fund for the support of the operation of the public schools in this State and requires that certain revenues of the State be deposited in the Fund. In addition to these revenues, existing law requires support for the State Education Fund to be provided by direct legislative appropriation in an amount determined by the Legislature to be sufficient to fund the operation of public schools in this State for the next ensuing biennium. (NRS 387.1212) After this direct legislative appropriation is made, existing law directs the Legislature to determine the statewide base per pupil funding amount for each fiscal year of the biennium, which is the amount of money on a per pupil basis for the projected enrollment of the public schools in this State which the Legislature determines is sufficient to fund the cost of all public schools in this State to operate and provide general education to all pupils, with the exception of certain expenses for which specific funding is otherwise provided. (NRS 387.1214) Section 2 of this bill requires that additional support for the State Education Fund be provided in an amount determined by the Legislature to be sufficient to ameliorate high teacher vacancy rates by providing compensation, in addition to base pay, for hard-to-fill positions in the public schools of this State. Sections 2 and 6 of this bill exclude this amount from the calculation of the base per pupil funding amount. Section 2 defines “hard-to-fill position” as including: (1) teacher positions at certain Title I schools; and (2) teacher positions and other positions filled by licensed educational personnel whose duties include actively teaching pupils in certain subjects which are suffering from a critical labor shortage. Sections 2 and 5 of this bill authorize the money for this amount to be appropriated to the State Education Fund from the State General Fund or transferred, at the direction of the Legislature, from the Education Stabilization Account. Section 3 of this bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to apportion the money appropriated or transferred to the State Education Fund pursuant to section 2 among the school districts in this State, on a monthly basis, according to the yearly apportionment for each school district as specified by the Legislature. Section 3 provides for the reversion of any such money which is not committed for expenditure at the end of each fiscal year. Sections 4, 6 and 7 of this bill exclude certain amounts appropriated or transferred to the State Education Fund pursuant to section 2 from: (1) the money upon which interest is earned for the State Education Fund; and (2) money in the State Education Fund which must be used for certain purposes. Under the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan, existing law requires a public school that receives weighted funding for one or more at-risk pupils or pupils who are English learners to use such funding only to provide services to such pupils, which are referred to as “Victory services” and “Zoom services,” respectively. (NRS 387.121, 387.12445) Existing law authorizes the use of this weighted funding to provide incentives for hiring and retaining teachers and other licensed educational personnel who provide such services. (NRS 387.12445) Section 8 of this bill eliminates the authority to use weighted funding to pay for such incentives.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 387.1212, 387.1213, 387.1214, 387.124, 387.12445
BDR: 387.1212, 387.1213, 387.1214, 387.124, 387.12445