A new report from the National Education Association found Nevada made the most progress of any state on raising educators’ salaries from 2024 to 2025 and supporters recommended legislation to sustain the gains.

During the last legislative session, the state gave school districts $250 million, which allowed them to raise teacher salaries by more than 11%.

Dawn Etcheverry, president of the Nevada State Education Association, said the badly needed bump in pay is helping attract and keep more employees, making a dent in the teacher shortage.

"We had the highest vacancies in the nation," Etcheverry pointed out. "Clark County was missing over 1,000 teachers, so we started the school year without a licensed educator in every room."

She noted at one point the Washoe County School District had so few bus drivers they could not cover all their routes. Nevada education spending still trails the national average by more than $4,000 per student.

The Commission on Education Funding, created in 2019, developed a plan to provide increased stable funding for school budgets by raising real estate and other taxes. Union supporters hope lawmakers will pass the plan when the legislature reconvenes next February.

The union said to keep pace with the plan, Nevada needs to increase per-pupil funding by about $700 during each of the next two years, requiring an additional $600 million. Etcheverry stressed Gov. Joe Lombardo’s 2025 budget raised education spending by $2 per pupil.

"This is the Republican attack on public education," Etcheverry contended. "If you don't fund it, it will fail, and we support a fully funded public education for every child."

Data from the National Education Association show Nevada has the largest class sizes in the nation.

Source: Public News Service