The Douglas County School Board (DCSB) trustees held a special meeting on Wednesday to find a way to fix the large deficit facing the district.
In front of an overflowing crowd, the six school board members and staff discussed the possible consolidation of some of its schools and a reduction in force (RIF) for some of its classified employees.
Ten to eleven employees could be terminated in February as the first wave of RIFs. DCSO Superintendent Frankie Alvarado said they may have to cut 60 positions this year.
One item on the agenda was pulled – the one that dealt with “Severe Financial Emergency.” That was pulled pending upcoming meetings with their attorneys and the Department of Taxation.
The agenda item said there would be discussion and possible action to formally declare a state of “Severe Financial Emergency,” defined under NRS 354.685. This declaration would be based on a determination that the district meets specific statutory conditions, such as a general fund ending balance of less than four percent of actual expenditures or the inability to meet payroll and debt obligations.
Consolidation
“It hurt my heart,” said Alvarado about having to put the three scenarios together as asked.
There were three scenarios shared with the Board:
1) Consolidating Jacks Valley Elementary and Pinion Hills Elementary in the northern part of the county to save $938,762 a year;
2) Consolidating Scarselli Elementary and C.C. Meneley Elementary in the southern part of the county to save the same, $938,762;
3) Consolidating Zephyr Cove Elementary and Whittell middle and high schools at Lake Tahoe to save $188,013 a year.
Those schools had already consolidated when the district closed Kingsbury Middle School and split its grades between Whittell High School and Zephyr Cove Middle School. They are “truly a model for consolidation” already. Whittell would have to undergo about $188,000 in retrofitting to fit the smaller students if moved to a K-12 school, and they’d have to work through combining the almost 300 students ages 5-18.
If the District consolidated all of the schools in the three scenarios they would save an estimated $2.28M annually, according to Alvarado.
They are looking at a shortfall this year of $5.2 million, with another $6.9 million in 2027. The district lost the funds due to declining enrollment, they said.
There are currently about 4,700 students in Douglas County with approximately 480 staff members. Enrollment has been declining over the last 10 years, though data shows it may be leveling off in some areas. In the last seven years, they lost about 1,000 students.
Washoe County School District is currently developing a plan to also consolidate schools in the next 18 months. Their need is primarily driven by declining student enrollment and an $18 million budget deficit. The plan involves closing older, inefficient schools and modernizing or rebuilding others to save approximately $6.5 million annually.
DCSO is under a time crunich, and would have to decide if there is to be consolidation by February’s winter break. If there is consolidation, there will have to be public meetings to redesign school boundaries.
Reduction in Staff
The first set of layoffs from classified employees could happen by February 17, 2026. The board admitted it is a tough position, and a decision they didn’t want to make, but had to. The first cuts will come from classified staff (nonteachers) as they don’t have to be given a long notice (30 days). Certified (teachers), get a 40-day notice per their contracts, and the deadline for administrators to be laid off already passed on January 1.
Going Forward
Many speakers during the afternoon and evening suggested the District hire a CFO right away to start getting actual financial numbers and solutions, and to start getting revenue through Medicaid and other opportunities to raise funds.
They also said proposed cuts are nothing but a “bandaid,” and that they need to look for ways to bring in more students, including those currently homeschooled or already left for neighboring school districts.
Multi-tracking could also be a possibility of thinking outside the box for a solution.
DCSD will start a webpage to post clear and concise data, and give the community information needed to better understand the current situation.
The District is updating software this week as there are currently 660 students who don’t show up in its boundaries.
Some questioned the formula used to arrive at the cost per employee.
It is situations such as this that has been frustrating people in the county to get that clear picture.
Nobody disagrees that DCSD has a daunting job ahead of them, but many want others to look at the positive possibilities and not all of the negative scenarios. There can be silver linings along with the hurt with a redesign of the district.
“We can’t just focus on the negativity,” said Alvarado. He said consolidation would allow them to focus on reducing overhead costs that would give them high-quality teaching and learning.
The plan is to get to a “net zero” and show the Department of Taxation how they can achieve it.
The next board meeting is on January 15 at 4 p.m. in the Minden Airport Training Room.