LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Money matters were front and center at the Clark County School District Board of Trustees meeting Thursday.
The district’s budget deficit has changed several times in the past few days, including twice on Thursday.
FOX5 has been covering the impact this has had since the start of the school year.
During that meeting, interim Superintendent, Brenda Larsen-Mitchell revealed CCSD is now experiencing a $10.9 million budget shortfall.
That’s down from the $12 million figure FOX5 received before the meeting kicked off, and the original number of $20 million.
Speaking of, it led to trustees asking a million questions, and at times it got fiery, especially when talking about timelines. That’s after it was revealed by Larsen-Mitchell the district discovered the shortfall in Spring.
That didn’t sit well with trustee, Isaac Barron, with the following exchange directed at Larsen-Mitchell. “You knew there were going to be issues, but you didn’t take a deep dive to see if it was going to be a problem that was coming up? Timeline is troubling for me,” Barron said. “I think the panic cannot be understated!”
The exchange made CCSD Board of Trustee President, Evelyn Garcia Morales interject to try and keep the peace. “I ask members moving forward if you have questions of our team, that you use a respectful tone, otherwise we will have problems,” Garcia Morales said.
But the problem for many of the trustees, was when the budget issues were actually discovered.
Interim Superintendent Brenda Larsen-Mitchell explains in greater detail, “We knew in Spring due to salary increases which our employees deserve, we were going to be tight.”
Those salary increases the interim Superintendent is talking about are the $5,700 pay increases that were not factored into the original budget forecast.
Speaking of money, the district discussed hiring an outside firm for $50,000 to do a deep dive of its finances, but that did not pass.
Superintendent Larsen-Mitchell says the district is looking as absorbing that $10.9 million deficit centrally using the unassigned ending fund balance, but admits it might effect the district’s bond rating.
FOX5 has been reporting about teachers at various schools across the valley getting surplused or shuffled around.
But is that happening at the central office?
According to Brenda Larsen-Mitchell, no central office staffers have been surplused at this time. That answer drew laughter from the audience.
Looking ahead, the fiscal year 2025 amended final budget will be presented to the board for final approval on December 12.
CCSD is now saying the budget shortfall is because of inaccurate data in January of 2024 with school budgets, and a lack of timely communication with principals.
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