Hillary Davis
John Vellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, leads a rally Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, outside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas. Members of the state’s largest teachers union rallied for increased funding for Nevada public schools on what was the first day of the Nevada Legislature’s 2023 session.
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Education in Nevada
The largest teachers union in the Clark County School District is taking a hard stance against bonuses, including proposed incentives of at least $20,000 for teachers at certain elementary schools where children struggle the most to read.
The Clark County Education Association’s executive board sent out a unionwide email last week saying that it is focused on improving base pay, not one-off bonuses that do not contribute to long-term salary stability or count toward pensions.
“It has come to CCEA’s attention that some principals, empowered by CCSD central administration, have written one-time retention bonuses into their school budgets or would like CCEA to sign (memorandums of agreement) that provide bonus money,” the Jan. 30 message said, noting that the bonuses being floated currently wouldn’t be for every teacher in the district. “This is a brazen attempt to undermine our collective bargaining rights and to continue the practice of one-time bonus money. We cannot allow these egregious actions to take place.”
CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara sent out a districtwide staff email late last week noting that the district has proposed “substantial” recruitment and retention incentives for a cluster of schools called the Transformation Network. But these and other bonuses, including the extension of relocation bonuses that the district launched this year, but “have either been rejected outright or the required terms made it impossible to perform.”
While neither the union nor Jara’s messages specify which individual principals or what district-level agreements are suggesting bonuses, an unsigned draft of an agreement between CCEA and the district obtained by the Sun shows that Transformation Network teachers would get a flat bonus of $20,000 next year, plus smaller bonuses for each student on their rolls that achieves certain benchmarks on state exams.
A district spokesman confirmed that the proposed large bonuses would come from pandemic relief funds, while the per-student rewards would come from general funds.
The schools listed in the undated draft agreement are Booker, Clyde Cox, Dearing, Dickens, Duncan, Ira Earl, Harmon, Herr, Jeffers, Kelly, Martin Luther King, Long, Lunt, Lynch, Claude Perkins, Petersen, Hal Smith, Tartan, Thomas, Thorpe, Wilhelm, Wendell Williams and Wynn elementary schools. They largely performed at the bottom of CCSD’s 231 grade schools on state reading exams last year — fewer than one in five children could read at grade level at several of these schools, according to Nevada Department of Education data.
Under the proposed, unsigned agreement, teachers at these schools would receive a lump sum payment after the 2023-24 school year ends, which could be prorated if they joined the school after the midyear mark. Teachers, including some specialists, could also receive “student outcome incentive” payments of $100 for every child who met certain proficiency levels on next year’s standardized reading tests, depending on grade level or if the child is in special education.
Transformation Network teachers would also have to work 19 extra minutes per day, the salary for which would count toward their retirement, unlike the bonuses.
In his memo, Jara broadly reiterated his hope to increase education funding — and educator pay — as he said in his State of the Schools address in January. The superintendent’s annual address followed up on Gov. Joe Lombardo’s State of the State speech, where the first-term Republican said he would call for a $2 billion additional boost in Nevada funding over the next two years; Lombardo, a CCSD graduate, appeared at the district event to say he supported public education and to receive a customized football jersey from his alma mater, Rancho High School.
Additionally, state-level Democratic leadership has pitched a $250 million matching fund that specifically incentivizes school districts to boost pay for teachers and school support staff.
Between federal pandemic aid and general funds, CCSD teachers have received $7,000 in bonuses over the last two years, seen their salary floor increase from about $43,000 to $50,000, and, for new hires coming from a distance, been incentivized with $4,000 relocation bonuses, Jara noted in his memo.
“We know every licensed professional deserves more, but we did what we could with the available funding. This is why we will need all voices advocating for increasing Nevada’s investment in education this legislative session,” he wrote. “In the meantime, we are striving to improve student academic outcomes by targeting support for students with incentives to attract employees to those schools with the greatest needs.”
“We want to reward you for your dedication to our students — temporarily with these incentives — and permanently by increasing pay across the board at the legislative session’s conclusion,” he added.
CCEA stressed that wages, hours and other terms of employment must be collectively bargained and said that the Transformation Network bonuses were not: “Our organization is drawing a line in the sand.”
The group can at least agree with the district on base pay. At a rally Monday to kick off Nevada’s legislative session, union leadership and rank-and-file affirmed they’d make a full-court press on lawmakers to increase funding for schools. That was a sentiment strongly imparted in their bonus memo.
“Let us be clear: we are DONE with one-time money in any shape or form,” they wrote, the emphasis theirs. “In Carson City, CCEA will fight for additional funding to increase veteran educators’ salaries PERMANENTLY.”
