The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees voted 5-2 on Tuesday to approve the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The 2019/2020 fiscal year budget would include a $7.89 million deficit, and also includes a 3% raise for teachers, adding about $12.3 million to the total expenditures. 

As of right now, some funding specifics remain undecided.

There are multiple bills in the legislature that would impact WCSD's budget, but that doesn't even include per pupil funding from the state, which is still unknown.

"[Per pupil funding] is very crucial," WCSD Board of Trustees President Katy Simon Holland says. "It's about 80%, 80% of our budget comes from that state distributive school account."

Last year, the district got $7,200 per pupil last year, and the Department of Education gave them a minimum estimate of $8,000 per pupil for this year. That's how they structured this budget.

The district is required by state law to pass a budget, sometimes not knowing every funding detail. Once the legislative session ends, and board members have funding details, they have 30 days to adjust their budget.  

Board members have to pass a balanced budget, so the current $7.89 million deficit estimate is paid with the available general funds. That would lower the available general funds from about $35 million to $27 million. 

Simon Holland said during the meeting that school district don't have the same means as other governmental bodies to create revenue, so their options are to work with the state, and to make cuts, which is never ideal.

"I've long felt we don't cut our way into prosperity," Simon Holland says. "We don't cut our way into educational excellence. We absolutely want to be appropriate, we want to be responsible."

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