Assemblyman Yeager seeks $90 million for pay supplements to fill hard-to-fill teacher positions

Assemblyman Steve Yeager introduced Assembly Bill 398 on the floor of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, proposing a $45 million appropriation for each year of the biennium to provide targeted supplemental pay for teachers who fill designated hard-to-fill positions in Title I schools and for special education roles.

The bill’s sponsor said the proposal aims to put a licensed teacher in every classroom in Nevada’s highest-need schools. “This bill directly addresses what I believe to be one of the most significant and crucial challenges facing our schools,” Yeager told the committee, adding that the program would be administered through interim finance committee (IFC) processes and distributed by the Department of Education.

Why it matters: Committee testimony from the Clark County Education Association and school-district officials credited a prior program (SB 231) with sharply reducing vacancies in Title I and special-education positions in Clark County, and they argued continuation or a similar targeted program is needed statewide to sustain those gains. John Bellardita, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, said the earlier effort reduced special-education vacancies by 84% and overall Title I vacancies by 53% in the district.

Under the conceptual amendment Yeager presented, the bill would define hard-to-fill positions by vacancy thresholds: 10% for elementary schools, 12% for middle schools and 15% for high schools (Title I schools only). A district would report counts of hard-to-fill positions by June 4 each year; funds would be distributed when positions are filled. The sponsor said the $90 million total (two fiscal years) is intended to approximate a $5,000 supplement per filled position based on Clark County vacancy snapshots scaled statewide.

The sponsor acknowledged budget sensitivities and offered the rainy-day fund as the proposed source for the current biennium, but also said he is open to alternative funding conversations. “I know there will be some concerns,” Yeager said. “I am committed to working with all of you…to figure out what is the appropriate funding source for this program.”

Supporters included Clark County School District officials, the Clark County Education Association, CCEA leadership and representatives of charter schools. Clark County’s chief negotiator told the committee the district used similar funding last session to increase base pay and offer targeted $5,000 supplements, and that it saw meaningful vacancy reductions.

Opponents and critics — principally unions and education support professionals (ESPs) — urged an expanded approach. Neutral and opposing testimony repeatedly requested that the bill include ESPs and other licensed professionals (bus drivers, custodians, paraprofessionals, school nurses, speech-language pathologists), arguing those roles are also “hard to fill” and that excluding them would harm school operations and equity. The Nevada State Education Association and multiple ESP groups asked for amendments to include those categories.

Next steps: The bill was heard as a policy and fiscal item; the sponsor presented a conceptual amendment that would also appropriate roughly $19.3 million per year to extend charter-school teacher pay raises via the IFC process (an inclusion the sponsor added during the hearing). The Department of Education said it would remove its fiscal note and can absorb administrative work. No final committee vote was taken at the hearing; the chair limited testimony and set IFC as the likely venue for allocations and further review.

Provenance: Committee hearing transcript (Assembly Ways & Means), topic introduced at s=7361.535 and discussion continued through s=13014.52.