EDUCATION

Education in Assembly District 39 is in trouble. The Douglas County School District dealt with an unprecedented $5 million deficit this year, while Lyon County had to address a $1.68 million reduction in revenue. Both districts managed to avoid drastic cuts directly affecting students and teachers, but other services and infrastructure were impacted. School districts throughout the state, especially other rural districts, find themselves in the same situation. It’s going to be up to the State Legislature to do something about it in 2027. Here are a few proposals:
 
Modify the Pupil Centered Funding Program (PCFP) to address declining enrollment and special circumstances impacting rural districts. The PCFP is the formula the state uses to allocate funds to schools, on a weighted, per pupil basis with extra allowances for low-income students, English learners, special needs students, and other factors. 
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• Adjust downward the threshold at which a school district is “held harmless” against funding reductions if it loses enrollment. The current threshold is 5% or more in a year, which leaves out the Douglas County District, which is experiencing lower but consistent declines year after year.  
• Modify the PCFP funding formula to give added consideration to rural districts which lack economies of scale, face ever increasing costs, and recruitment problems caused by high costs of living. 
• Base funding on a one-time head count, rather than the quarterly count which penalizes a district if it loses students over the course of the school year. 

Address the issue of declining enrollment by gathering hard data on why it is happening and developing policies to mitigate its effects. 

• Douglas County has lost about 150 students per year for several years and Lyon County is beginning to see a similar trend. There are a multitude of factors behind this, not the least of which are falling birth rates and the difficulty families with children have finding affordable housing in our area. Parents are also choosing private schools, charter schools, or are home-schooling. We need to understand why and explore ways the public schools can make themselves the better choice. 

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We need to commit to adequate funding for public schools.
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• The PCFP formula is irrelevant without proper financial support. We cannot stand pat with our low national rankings for funding, teacher-student ratio, and educational outcome and expect things to get better all by themselves. ​