Topic: Indentify State Funding Programs in Nevada
Instructions in pdf format attached.
It is critical to understand various fund groups and the importance of proper accounting.
1. Research funding programs in your state (Nevada) that are NOT direct state resources and describe how these funds are used.
2. Note in your response the individual(s) names that are responsible for budgeting and accounting for each fund.
Length: 5 pages
Include 3-5 sources (resources attached as pdf)
Reference page
APA
Education Funding Programs in Nevada
Student’s Name
Academic Institution
Abstract
In many countries, the national government has the role of funding education programs. However, with the evolution of governance, the local governments have taken up the role of funding educational programs to improve their regional schools. The state of Nevada has currently formulated methods funding the School districts since the state governments are not enough for the many schools in the region. The programs which have been established are for guiding the schools in ways to generate revenue. This income is used to facilitate the daily operations if the institutions and the wages and salaries for the teachers and workers. Therefore, the finding programs are not direct resources from the states but the indirect method of generating income. They include taxation methods and the formation of unions for educators and teachers. The paper analysis the various education funding programs in Nevada and how the funds are used. Particularly, it notes the individuals who do the budget and accounting for the funds.
Keywords: school districts, public schools, revenue,
Education Funding Programs in Nevada
In the recent past, education reforms have been the priority of many state governments in the United States. State and local administrations have put efforts into reviving education particularly in public district schools. In the state of Nevada, several bills have been enacted by the governor to increase school resources so that students can have good learning conditions. The educators have also been incorporated in these programs by increasing their pay and rewarding them. As a result, there has been an improvement in performance in the school districts particularly the Clark County School District (CCSD). Additionally, proper management and budgeting of the funds have also enhanced their allocation thus contributing to the exemplary performance of the schools. Analyzing the funding programs in Nevada will help in understanding how each of them has been used to contribute to improvement in education.
The governor of Nevada signed Assembly Bill 309 which guides the school districts. The Nevada Department of education does the accounting for all the education funding programs which have been implemented by the state government of Nevada. There are districts that have a collective bargaining agreement with their educators and teachers. The bill requires the districts to reserve enough money to cater to the salary increase which they have agreed upon (“Governor Sisolak Signs Bills Boosting Education Funding and School Safety, Providing Teacher Raises and School Supply Reimbursement Increases”). Most of the schools generate revenue from other activities such as providing food services to students and internals services. The revenue collected is not enough to increase the pay of the educators and other employees in the schools therefore, the bill enforces on fulfilling the agreements which the parties have agreed upon.
Additionally, the bill requires the counties to formulate a new sales tax. The tax collected provides funding in educational- related projects. Many schools do not have specialized education programs because of the lack of the specific resources required by these students. Thus, the tax is used in early childhood education, adult education, and specialized education programs. The tax is also used in developing the workforce in the school for the staff who work in non-education fields. Also, when the schools are hiring and recruiting new employees, they do not have to find other means of funding these activities (“Comprehensive Annual Budget Report For Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2019,”2019). The bill allows the school district to plan for the money it has generated using the proposed methods. The districts are not bound to any rule of usage of the funds that they collect. Therefore, the bill seeks to help the school districts in generating revenue and giving them the freedom to plan their budget in favor of their interests. This helps in improving the conditions of the schools. When the employees and educators are motivated, they are able to deliver their best to the students thus enabling them to perform well.
Furthermore, the Nevada Plan is funding that was established to help the school districts. The Clark County School District is the body that does the budgeting for the schools and distributes the funds when disbursed. The Plan comprises of a levy in sales tax and is based on public education. When the tax is collected, it is deposited in the state general fund but with the purpose of usage by the public school. Currently, the Plan has been changed in several aspects to favor the public schools and reduce the state appropriations of the K-12 (“Authorizing Additional Funding for Our Schools,”2018). It increased the Local School Support Tax. The plan required schools to pay a property tax of $1.50 per $100 of assessed value. However, to enable the schools to fund their educational projects, the Nevada Plan reduced the rate to $0.75 per $100. This has helped the schools to save more money which they use in initiating projects such as the addition of new classrooms to accommodate more students and give them space while studying.
The Plan aimed at benefiting the public schools more by taking the school’s operations from the local authorities to the legislative. All the public schools’ operations that concern revenue authority was taken to the legislative. It provides funding to school districts which are later distributed to the particular schools in the region. The funds are varied according to the wealth and the cost per pupil in Nevada. Therefore, the fund helps each student since they are distributed according to the number of children and their economic status (“Clark County School District Amended Final Budget”). This helps in enhancing equal education opportunities in the school. Besides, the funds help in maintaining the school premises. Consequently, the students are able to fit in the education programs thereby improving their overall performance.
Moreover, the Clark County Education Association (CCEA) seeks to increase the Nevada Plan funding for public schools outside the Distributive School Account (DSA). K-12 education is given less funding than that of the local schools. Therefore, since the Plan helps all the public schools, the CCEA wants the k-12 to have full funding from the government. Since the DSA revenue is generated by the schools from collections of taxes and mining leases, the schools ought to have a full funding program to help them meet the daily operations (“Briefing Issues: Education Funding in Nevada”). The funds will be used to help the schools in developing the educational projects which they initiated in the past and improve the special education programs, adult education and other education-related activities. Therefore, the allocation of more funds in K-12 education will help in improving the performance of the students.
Besides, Senate Bill 324 was enacted to enable the teachers in accessing more funds. The bill renamed the Teacher’s School Supplies Reimbursement account to the Teacher’s School Supplies Helpance Accounts since this account receives a lot of funding from local programs (“Governor Sisolak Signs Bills Boosting Education Funding and School Safety, Providing Teacher Raises and School Supply Reimbursement Increases”). Generally, teachers face a challenge of late salaries or inaccessible funds for short loans and other necessities. By enacting this bill, the teachers in public schools have more options for accessing revenue. They can use various programs to get funds if the need arises. Also, the new program increased the accessible funds as per the approved budget. Each teacher would be able to get $80 more dollars from the previous limit which was $100. Therefore, the teachers are able to manage their needs which motivate them in their work. As a result, the effort of the teachers is reflected in the performance of the students. Consequently, the progress in each school leads to an overall improvement of the whole district.
Similarly, Senate Bill 545 was enacted to help in funding the education sector from tax collected on marijuana. Nevada is in the regions where the business of drug trafficking is rampant. Therefore, in order to deal with this issue, the government puts high taxes on marijuana to discourage the people in this business. Ten percent of the tax revenue collected from this business is directed to the Distributive School Account (DSA) (“Governor Sisolak Signs Bills Boosting Education Funding and School Safety, Providing Teacher Raises and School Supply Reimbursement Increases”). The DSA is under the Nevada Plan that funds K-12 education. Previously, the tax collected from the sale of marijuana went into the Rainy Day Fund. This boosted the funding of K-12 education by $120 million. These funds are used to provide reading resources to students. Also, they are used to maintain the school facilities and improve the conditions of the employees. By doing so, the performance of individual students improves thus enhancing the achievement of the schools.
Finally, the CCSD special schools fund is directed to the schools which have poor performance in the district. The CCSD carries out the accounting and budgeting of these schools. The distribution of the funds is done by this body and according to the number of the schools and the population of the students. The funds are allocated per each student in the school so that they can help in improving the individual student’s performance (“Briefing Issues: Education Funding in Nevada”). The schools perform poorly because the learners are moistly associated with other issues which might be social or economical. Therefore, the funds are particularly used to help them in accessing the basic need which they cannot afford and the reading materials. As a result, there has been a remarkable change in most of these schools. Hence, funding is beneficial to students.
In a nutshell, the education funding programs in Nevada have been beneficial improving the performance of public district schools. Most of these programs are to guide the schools on how to generate revenue; thus, they are indirect funding programs. Some of these programs include the Clark County School District programs for K-12, Special education and public school. These are aimed at improving the performance of the students. The ones which focus on enhancing the productivity of teachers and employees in the schools include the senate bill 324 and assembly bill 309. Therefore, the funding has advanced education in Nevada.
References
Authorizing Additional Funding for Our Schools. (2018). Clark County Education Association, 1-22.
Briefing Issues: Education Funding in Nevada. (n.d.). Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, 2(3), 1-31.
Clark County School District Amended Final Budget. (2018). CCSD.
Comprehensive Annual Budget Report For Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2019. (2019). Clark County School District.
Governor Sisolak Signs Bills Boosting Education Funding and School Safety, Providing Teacher Raises and School Supply Reimbursement Increases. (n.d.). States News Service.
