2025-26 School Budgets – Fall 2025 Revision
Frequently Asked Questions
Every fall, the Clark County School District (CCSD) looks at the number of students enrolled at each school to adjust projected spring school budgets based on the number of actual students they are serving.
“Count Day” student enrollment ended 3,600 students fewer than originally predicted when draft school budgets were released in the Spring. Schools that are serving fewer students than anticipated did see a reduction in their 2025-26 budgets.
| Impact of Declining Enrollment on the 2025-26 budget | |
| Base amount provided for each student | $9,501 |
| Projected Enrollment in Spring, 2025 | 280,683 |
| Actual Enrollment in Fall, 2025 | 277,083 |
| Difference in Projected to Actual Enrollment | 3,600 |
| Decrease in funding due to lower enrollment | $34,203,600 |
Additionally, some students receive additional funds if they are identified under state standards as at-risk of not graduating, gifted and talented, an English language learner, or in need of special education services. School budgets can change from spring projections if the type of student they serve changes.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why are schools saying they are seeing a $66.21 reduction in per-pupil funding?
Schools did not receive a decrease in per-pupil funding – only a reduction if they are serving fewer students than projected.
Here’s why schools are asking this question: CCSD also received $36 million less in At-Risk weighted funding in 2025-26 than originally projected due to eligibility changes in the state funding formula. The District opted to utilize central funds to cover this reduction so that school budgets were not impacted by this change.
While CCSD did utilize central funds for the reduced funding due to the change in “At-Risk” eligibility, the funds were added separately in an effort to call out that the funds were replaced by central funds.
| Total amount of reduced funding to CCSD in Fall 2025 | |
| Reduced funding due to the change in “At-Risk” eligibility (absorbed by central funds) | $36,213,291.00 |
| Decrease in funding due to lower student enrollment | $34,203,600.00 |
| Total amount of reduced funding to CCSD budget
Note: These numbers do not include Pre-Kindergarten funding, which is handled separately. |
$70,416,891.00 |
Where did schools see changes in enrollment?
The situation varies by school. About 40% of schools saw increased enrollment over spring predictions, and the rest saw lower enrollment. Some schools did not necessarily see a decrease in enrollment but saw a decrease in students who received a weighted funding amount, such as students who were designated under state definitions as English Language Learners, At-Risk, or Gifted and Talented.
Like public school districts across the nation, CCSD is experiencing declining enrollment. Currently, about 24,500 CCSD students are enrolled in 12th grade, while CCSD is serving about 17,600 new kindergartners. We are working hard to grow the number of students we have the privilege to serve. We are proud of the many world-class programs we offer to students and the progress we have made to increase student achievement. CCSD is implementing several programs to ensure we become the Destination District for students and families.
We have several initiatives to invite families to come back to CCSD. For example, we contacted more than 4,400 families in August who were enrolled last year but are not enrolled this year. We called families and knocked on their doors after the start of school. We know it will take some time to establish CCSD as the Destination District – and we are taking steps to do that.
Does this mean that we anticipate teachers or other staff being moved?
In Nevada’s funding model, dollars follow the students, and so do teachers and other services. Schools that have lower enrollment do have the opportunity to use carryover school funds to maintain current student-teacher ratios. Despite the budget differences, almost all CCSD schools have enough funding in their fall budgets to fully support their approved, spring-cycle budget because of carryover funds in their accounts and At-Risk funds that the District provided through reductions in central office funds. As in years’ past, CCSD will assist employees whose positions are reduced at the school level with the least amount of disruption possible to individual employees.
Didn’t CCSD already project a decrease in student enrollment?
Yes, CCSD projected a decrease of 6,691 students for the 2025-26 school year, and the actual decrease ended up being a total of 10,291 students. This additional decrease in enrollment led to a decrease in funding by $34,203,600 ($9,501 per-pupil X 3,600 fewer students) between the spring projection and the fall actuals.
Is CCSD still providing 85% of per-pupil funds to schools?
Yes, while there is no longer a state requirement for CCSD to provide 85% of per-pupil funds to school budgets, we are maintaining that standard.
