Schools · Valley-wide
Clark County School District will limit most substitute teachers' hours after missing a 2023 retirement benefits law
CCSD says it failed for more than three years to offer eligible substitutes state retirement benefits. It now plans to keep most subs under the hours threshold and expects to pay $15 million to $17.5 million a year.
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What happened
The Clark County School District plans to cap the hours most of its substitute teachers can work after learning it never put a 2023 state law change into effect, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Under that change, licensed substitutes who work more than 719 hours in a school year have been eligible for Public Employees' Retirement System benefits since July 1, 2023.
District officials said a review of finances by new leadership found the law had not been implemented for more than three years. The district announced the problem last week and, according to the Review-Journal, expects to spend millions more each year on benefits for substitutes who qualify.
How the new limits work
In a message sent to all substitute teachers on Nov. 4, the district said it will begin restricting most substitutes' hours so they stay under the retirement system eligibility threshold. The district said a majority of its substitutes already work fewer than 719 hours in a school year, which the Review-Journal noted equals nearly 90 eight-hour workdays.
Who can opt in to benefits
For now, only substitutes on special assignment can choose to earn retirement system benefits, the district's message said. That role refers to substitutes who work at one school for an entire school year. As of Nov. 1, the district had 4,742 licensed substitutes eligible to teach, and about 675 of them were on special assignment.
Deadlines for affected substitutes
The Review-Journal reported that substitutes on special assignment must choose by Monday between earning retirement benefits or working fewer than 720 hours a year. Those who qualify and opt in will see their paychecks affected starting Dec. 9.
The law and the cost
Substitutes became eligible for the retirement system through Senate Bill 434, signed into law in 2023. The bill removed substitutes from a list of people exempt from retirement system eligibility, according to the Review-Journal.
Annual cost and money owed
The district estimated benefits for substitutes could cost between $15 million and $17.5 million annually, "depending on employee activity and eligibility in any given year." It said it is working with the retirement system to determine how much it might owe educators who should have benefited from the law's implementation.
What district leaders said
Superintendent Jhone Ebert said in a statement that she was "grateful to our leadership team for identifying this lack of compliance with state law." She added that CCSD is working quickly to comply and provide employees the benefits they are entitled to. The district's message to substitutes said it remains committed to "minimizing financial impacts to affected employees."
Why it matters for CCSD's budget
The new costs arrive as the district faces growing financial strain from declining enrollment, which has reduced its funding, the Review-Journal reported. A $51 million midyear budget shortfall had threatened hundreds of employees' positions before Gov. Joe Lombardo in September approved a stopgap plan to fund school districts until the 2027 Legislature.
More coverage of the Clark County School District is available in our schools section.
What to watch next
- How much CCSD owes substitutes who should have received retirement benefits since July 1, 2023, which the district is still working out with the retirement system.
- Paycheck changes for substitutes on special assignment who opt in to benefits, starting Dec. 9.
- How the district handles $15 million to $17.5 million in annual benefit costs while operating under a stopgap funding plan that runs until the 2027 Legislature.