<body><div>LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Schools across Clark County are making cuts after the nation's fifth-largest school district announced it's losing $51.6 million in its fall budget.District leaders say the reductions have to do with lower student enrollment and increased employee costs.Now, we're looking into the impact on classrooms.Schools had until Friday to submit their budget adjustments to the district."We're seeing cuts come through even at the magnet schools that in theory have stable enrollment," said Nevada PTA President and CCSD parent Rebecca Dirks Garcia.Dirks Garcia says one of her children's schools, a CCSD career and technical academy that students have to apply to attend, is one of several schools being impacted by CCSD's budget cuts.She says the school announced it will be losing four licensed professionals, also known as teachers."But you don't always know about it if that just means the class sizes is getting bigger because they're rearranging students or your kids keeping the same schedule, but just getting switched around," said Dirks Garcia.She says while she waits to see if her child's classes are impacted, she's hearing from other schools that are also making changes after CCSD announced needing to make $51.6 million in cuts this Fall.<div style="position:relative;width:100%; height:0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YrsewFOSMEc" frameborder="0" style="width:100%; height:100%;top:0; left:0; position:absolute"></iframe></div>"I'm hearing not just a reduction in the number of Educators in the classroom, but cuts to programs like art and other electives We're hearing that hours are being reduced for things like custodians and campus security monitors and support staff," said Dirks Garcia.Educators at Helen Marie Smith Elementary School in the West Valley say their school is also being hit hard after already having to make budget cuts in the spring."We're cutting four licensed positions, three in regular classrooms and one in the music program and the arts program. We're also losing two instructional aides, and our site-based technician is a going halftime," said Helen Marie Smith Elementary School teacher Sarah Sunassy.Sunassy says because there is only one music teacher and that position is being cut, the music program is being cut altogether."It's so much more than just the kids going to a specials. She runs our talent show. She does during Nevada Reading Week; we do March Music Madness where the kids get to choose their favorite song out of," said Sunassy.Sunassy says the program is especially important at a Title I school."Well, Title I means that we have a high percentage of students who are living at or below the poverty level. So what that means is a lot of our students, this will be their only opportunity to have any kind of music education in their younger lives," said Sunassy.So, what is the fix?"So if we were to have something in place where we knew exactly the amount of money we were going to have and that that wasn't going to be decreased come fall, I think that would be very, very helpful for knowing what we could do," said Sunassy.Both Sunassy and Dirks Garcia agree that the way schools are funded also needs to change, which would require action from Nevada lawmakers."We are still funding significantly - thousands of dollars less per student than the national average and how much even the state's own studies say kids need to receive an adequate education," said Dirks Garcia.While schools had to adjust their budgets by Friday, Sunassy says her principal has filed a request for additional funding to save the music teacher and, at the same time, the program itself.To be clear, not every school has been impacted by the budget shortfall.CCSD says it is seeking a bill in the upcoming legislative session to change how Nevada funds public schools and prevent mid-year budget cuts.The CCSD Board of School Trustees approved the bill draft request in August. The proposal seeks to change the timeline used for enrollment counts when school budgets are developed.The district said in a statement, in part:"Instead of requiring CCSD to estimate how many students will show up each fall, funding would be based on the previous year's actual student count."CCSD says schools are absorbing about $29.1 million, while central administration is reducing its budget by $22.5 million as part of the updated budgets.</div></body>

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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Schools across Clark County are making cuts after the nation's fifth-largest school district announced it's losing $51.6 million in its fall budget. District leaders say the reductions have to do with lower student enrollment and increased employee costs. Now, we're looking into the impact on...

CCSD budget cuts hit classrooms as schools reduce teachers, programs

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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Schools across Clark County are making cuts after the nation's fifth-largest school district announced it's losing $51.6 million in its 

CCSD budget cuts hit classrooms as schools reduce teachers, programs

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