The Washoe County School District (WCSD) is continuing to blame the state of Nevada for an alleged change to the state’s education budget. Days before the 2017 legislative session ended, the district encouraged parents and teachers to contact the governor to advocate for more funding to fill a $6.5 million budget hole that, the district said, came as a surprise.
“A different calculation was used that we were unaware of,” said School District Superintendent Traci Davis in a hastily called press conference this morning. “There was a different formula that we were not aware of.”
Greg Bortolin, spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Education, disputed these allegations.
“There’s nothing wrong the formula, and there’s no mistake,” he said. “Every other district figured it out. The only district that’s having an issue is Washoe County.
“There’s a working group of finance people from every single district, and they all work together and get the same information. The big change in the funding formula was all-day kindergarten,” he added. “In Washoe’s case, their enrollment growth was small combined with their local tax revenue, which spiked at a greater level than Clark County. In proportion, it was a larger increase than what Clark County is getting.
“In the past Washoe has always benefited from that,” Bortolin explained.
WCSD ended up getting extra funding to fill the budget gap.
“Coming together in the final 24 hours of session was a significant effort that was truly in the best interest of our students and is very much appreciated by the Washoe County School District,” Davis said in a press statement.
Paper Alleges District Tried To Block Reporter From Attending Press Event
WCSD allegedly tried to prevent the Reno Gazette-Journal (RGJ) from attending this morning’s press conference. According to RGJ Editor Brian Duggan, their reporter was not invited to the event and was originally barred from attending. Here’s what he posted on Twitter this morning.
Our reporter was not told about the press conference, locked out of the room when arrived, let in after saying we would call our attorney. https://t.co/r1ppEPm370
— Brian Duggan (@brianduggan) June 6, 2017
The school district denied, however, that a reporter was blocked from entering the press event.
“She was allowed in,” said spokesperson Megan Downs. “We just happened to [be] in a room where the door automatically locks, and she was ushered in.”
When asked if the RGJ was not invited, Downs explained that the event was not a press conference but “an impromptu thing.”
“It was maybe an oversight on our part, not an intentional diss to the RGJ,” she said.
ThisisReno received a call inviting us to this morning’s press event.
