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Ways and Means advances K‑12 funding bill after fiscal hearing; educators oppose $2 per‑pupil increase
Summary
The Assembly Ways and Means Committee held a fiscal hearing on Senate Bill 500, the 2025 K‑12 funding bill. Fiscal staff presented the bill; educators testified in opposition saying the proposal is far short of the increases recommended by the state commission on school funding. The committee later moved SB500 to pass in a work session.
Senate Bill 500, the 2025 bill to set base funding for K‑12 public education for the 2025–2027 biennium, received a fiscal hearing before the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means on May 20, 2025. Fiscal staff presented the bill and said it had been introduced in BDR form May 19 and that no changes had been made since the BDR walkthrough.
Alexander Marks, speaking for the Nevada State Education Association, testified in opposition, saying the bill’s proposed $2 increase in per‑pupil funding is inadequate. Marks told the committee that Nevada remains “chronically underfunded,” that prior increases still leave the state behind the national average by about $4,000 per pupil, and that the Commission on School Funding recommended annual $700 increases to reach the national average in a decade. Marks said the commission’s plan calls for roughly $640 million and that Nevada’s reserves (which he said are about $2 billion) could cover that amount; he warned SB500 would stretch the commission’s 10‑year plan into 12–15 years if adopted as written.
Committee fiscal staff and the bill presenters did not offer closing testimony; no callers registered in support or neutral during the public comment period recorded in the transcript, and the only in‑person testimony on record was opposition from NSEA.
In the committee’s work session later the same day, the chair accepted a motion “to do pass” on SB500. Assemblymember Bacchus moved the motion; Assemblymember Hategui seconded. The motion carried; the transcript records the chair stating the motion “carries unanimously.” The work session minutes and roll‑call tally are not recorded in the transcript.
Why it matters: SB500 determines how much state funding K‑12 districts will receive for the next biennium. Educators and their unions framed this hearing as a test of whether the legislature will follow the Commission on School Funding’s multi‑year plan or adopt a much smaller increase that educators say will not keep pace with inflation and rising costs.
What’s next: The committee advanced the bill in a work session the same day. Further action on general‑fund allocations and the full legislative calendar will determine whether the bill becomes law and whether the commission’s plan or a different funding path is adopted.
