Nevada Legislature passes charter school raises, bill goes to Lombardo's desk

Yahoo

4 days ago

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A key piece of legislation received final approval Thursday night in the Nevada Legislature, putting an end to a fight over education funding.
Raises for charter school teachers, a missing component in the education budget, were approved as the Nevada Senate passed Assembly Bill 398 (AB398). Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo had threatened to veto the $12.4 billion education bill because it left out charter school teachers. He called those raises 'non-negotiable.'
AB398 allocates nearly $38 million — $19.3 million annually — for the raises. The bill also includes $45 million to fund additional compensation for teachers across the state in 'hard-to-fill' positions, including Title I schools.
The bill passed 20-0 in the Senate, a bipartisan display of the Legislature's commitment to treat charter school teachers the same as any other teacher employed by a Nevada school district. Education support professionals (ESPs) are included in the charter school plan.
State report shows Nevada charter schools outperform public schools in test scores
'This is a major victory for Governor Lombardo, the legislature, and all Nevadans. For more than three sessions, I have worked on education reform and getting permanent teacher pay raises. I am honored that we got it done with bipartisan support,' Republican Assembly Minority Leader Gregory Hafen said in an emailed statement. Hafen and Democratic Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager sponsored the bill.
In an interview this week with 8 News Now, Yeager said there's a reason for keeping charter school raises separate from the overall education funding.
'We segregate it out in a different bill because we want to make sure that that money actually goes to increase compensation both for teachers and education support professionals (ESPs) and it's not just supplanting other money,' Yeager said.
'It allows legislators to stay involved in the process over the next two years to make sure that happens. And then going into the next legislative session, we can decide whether we want to put it in the base budget or not,' he said.
Charter schools will be required to provide the State Public Charter School Authority with certain basic information, including the number of teachers and ESPs employed as of October 1, 2024, and October 1, 2025. A plan to provide the salary increases is also required.
Money for the raises will be allocated by the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee and distributed through the charter authority.
Lawmakers have already dipped into the Education Stabilization Account, known as the rainy day account for schools, to meet spending outlined in the $12.4 billion budget. On May 8, lawmakers approved a $115.7 million withdrawal on top of $126.9 million allocated from the same fund on May 7.
In total, lawmakers are drawing that account down by about a quarter-million dollars, leaving it with an estimated reserve of $639.6 million.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.