Ford pledges consistent education funding and questions Lombardo's budget record

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026 | 2 a.m. Bringing Nevada’s per-pupil funding up to national parity will not be achieved in a single legislative session, gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford told a gathering of Clark County School District teachers. Ford, the state’s attorney general, remarked during an Oct. 6 roundtable that Nevada’s commitment to education funding must become far more consistent. “The archetypal happening you bash is you accidental you’re going to bash it, and past the 2nd happening you bash is really bash it, and you bash it by much than $2 per pupil,” Ford, a Democrat and erstwhile mathematics teacher, told teachers assembled at Sedway Middle School in North Las Vegas. “If you assertion you’re going to beryllium an acquisition governor, past you really person to enactment your wealth wherever your rima is, and it begins with budgets. When you amusement maine your budget, I spot your priorities.” Nevada schools received a historic funding boost in 2023 exceeding $2 billion, raising base support by roughly $2,300 per pupil under Republican incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo’s first biennium. The momentum stalled in 2025 when legislators approved funding that increased the base per‑pupil allocation by $2 1 twelvemonth and $70 the adjacent — a figure below the inflation rate. This fall, state officials helped CCSD avert most of the disruption caused by an estimated surplus of 577 positions after Lombardo signed an emergency bid in late September to allocate education money statewide using older, higher pupil counts as enrollment losses accelerated. CCSD officials said the shortfall this year surpassed internal projections and, combined with rising worker‑compensation expenses, left the district bracing for a $51.6 cardinal reduction in state funding this fall. The reprieve is expected to last through January or until the next legislative session convenes, at which point lawmakers can pursue a Read the full story at Las Vegas Sun →