With the legislative session over, the Washoe County School Board has less than 30 days to submit their final budget for fiscal year 2026.
The Board says they're making great progress. They've been working on this budget for the district since January, bringing the general fund deficit down from $9.7 million to $2.1 million now, with all reductions accounted for.
One of the first things the board voted on is agreeing to adopt the superintendent's recommendation to reduce a couple of last year's budget items, including one-time costs and parent-teacher home visits.
School Board President Beth Smith says they can continue the teacher-home visit program but will be cutting back by $65,000 while maintaining the level of visits they've been seeing.
She says, "So we'll be continuing that program as it is, but do it in a more efficient way so that we actually save some money."
The board has also voted to put a freeze on four vacant school police positions immediately.
Smith says this is not something families should be concerned about, since they have been increasing safety staffing - from 41 positions in 2019, to 79 positions now.
"It was so important to show the public that we've had a 93% increase in school police and school safety team members so that the community knows that although this is a freeze on four positions, we have made significant investments in this area."
They voted on a slight increase in athletic transportation fees. Increasing them up to $15 for middle schools and $75 for high schools.
President Smith says the school district does offer financial help for rides, "It's very important to point out that for families who need assistance, we have funds of money to cover those costs for them so no student will not be able to do athletics because of this cost change."
Not everything is getting cut or changed, however.
For example, the board has decided to keep covering their concurrent enrollment fees. They did say many topics like this one will be revisited and discussed again in the fall.
"Going into next school year, every single student that's taking AP, IB, or duo college credit class, as well as CTE courses will have no fees associated to it," says Smith.
This isn't the end - the school board will be finalizing some changes in their budget in their next meeting near the end of the month before sending it out to the legislature.
