Commission to develop Nevada school funding system named

All 11 members of the commission charged with developing a new K-12 funding system have now been named.

Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Karlene McCormick-Lee will chair the commission earlier this week. In addition, he named four school district financial officers as experts on the panel.

Friday, he announced the appointments by legislative leadership.

Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro named longtime local finance expert Guy Hobbs and lobbyist and gaming executive Punam Mather. Speaker Jason Frierson named Lisa Morris-Hibbler of the city of Las Vegas and Jim McIntosh of Henderson. Senate Minority Leader James Settelmeyer chose Humboldt School District’s David Jensen and Assembly Minority Leader Robin Titus chose Dusty Casey of Oasis Academy.

The four school district representatives named earlier wer A.J. Feuling of Carson City, Jason Goudie of Clark, Paul Johnson of White Pine and Mark Mathers of Washoe.

Working in concert with the state Education Department, the commission has been charged with developing and vetting a new funding model for K-12 education in Nevada. It will run parallel with the existing Nevada Plan for a biennium to test its impact on not only the two large school districts but the 15 small districts.

Southern lawmakers pushed for the new funding model saying the Nevada Plan, which dates to 1967, is no longer functioning in modern Nevada.