The Washoe County School District expects a huge budget deficit for fiscal year 2027.

School Board President Beth Smith says WCSD "could be facing a deficit of over $18 million."

She says that number is a high estimate. The actual deficit could be much lower depending on how certain details play out.

Smith says the School District has a couple of plans to lower the deficit, but they both start with internal analysis.

"The first thing that we're doing is making sure that we are evaluating every single penny that we spend," she said. "That's our responsibility to our taxpayers and our community at large."

Smith says the Board normally would have waited until January 2026 to begin discussing the FY27 budget, but circumstances convinced them to get started early.

"As we watched the 2025 legislative session roll out," Smith said, "we knew bigger budget decisions were coming. $2 more per student is not going to close the gap."

The Board is looking at ways to cut costs without impacting the quality of education for local kids.

Smith says their first steps are "reviewing all of the central administration fees that we have, positions that we have available, ways that we can be creatively funding certain needs, like textbooks."

WCSD is familiar with these cuts. Central administration costs account for 5% of the district's budget. Nevada law states up to 7.5% of a school district's budget may be used for these costs.

In a concurrent plan, the Board is looking at building new schools while consolidating older, smaller ones.

"Pine Middle School is in its final year as a middle school," Smith said. "We will be building a new elementary school on that property. Smithridge Elementary School will close and go into that school."

Dodson Elementary School and Roger Corbett Elementary School are also set for closure. There are also plans to rebuild Echo Loder Elementary School.

Even though a lot of students will go to new schools, Smith says their experience will be better in the long run.

"All of our children, no matter where you live," she said, "you're going to get an increased and improved educational experience, because we know that where a child learns is almost as important as what they're learning."

The School Board has to have its FY27 budget finalized by June 2026.

"We're all in it together," Smith said, "and that means full transparency."

As far as other Nevada school districts, Churchill County School District says they're looking at a $2 million deficit for FY27, while Storey County says they will not have a deficit. Douglas and Carson City expect to have more details soon.