LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — I'm continuing to follow the Clark County School District's non-compliance issues surrounding its budget. At this point, it does not appear the district will be placed on fiscal watch.
I listened in as a state finance subcommittee did not find a reason for the Clark County School District to be placed on fiscal watch.
In fact, subcommittee members said the opposite.
After listening to different financial reports, subcommittee members said they felt the district's finances seem pretty healthy.
At times, they even tried to redeem former Chief Financial Officer Jason Goudie, stopping short though of asking why he was fired in the first place.
"There seemed to be an overreaction to this process, and I think there was expectation of someone on the outside looking in that this must have been a very large deficit or error for the chief finance officer to have been let go, and then ultimately at the end of the day, everyone is told it's a $20 million error and we're still between budgets," said Jim McIntosh, a subcommittee member and former CCSD CFO.
That potential deficit was later reduced to $10 million. To put that figure into perspective, district leaders say that is less than 1% of the total district's budget.
That $10 million was also offset with other funds so at this point, there is no deficit.
Despite subcommittee members not finding a reason to place CCSD on fiscal watch, the decision still needs to go before the full committee.
The district is also being closely monitored by other entities.
New this morning, I obtained the approved corrective action plan CCSD was required to submit to the state Department of Education after the state superintendent found CCSD was in non-compliance.
It stems from two issues surrounding the budget:
1) failure to update the information required.
2) failure to provide accurate, complete and timely information to allow schools to accomplish their plans.
I'm still going through it, but it's a 15-page plan that outlines ways the district can improve communication and organizational silos.
One of the actions steps that involves parents is developing a discussion guide for principals to share with school organizational teams.
