Washoe County School District 425 E Ninth Street Kristen McNeill, Ed.D., Superintendent Reno, NV 89520 Ph: 775-348-0200, Fax: 775-348-0397 Website: www.washoeschools.net/washoeschools Board Members Malena Raymond, President District D Angela Taylor, Vice President District E Scott Kelley, Trustee District A Ellen Minetto, Trustee District B Andrew Caudill, Clerk District C Jacqueline Calvert, Trustee District F Katy Simon Holland, District G 2019-2020 District Accountability Report For more information visit www.nevadareportcard.nv.gov Mission Statement The Washoe County School District sets out to create an education system where all students achieve academic success, develop personal and civic responsibility, and achieve career and college readiness for the 21st century. Superintendent's Highlights Washoe County School District (WCSD) Named Third Best School District in Nevada The WCSD has been named the "third best school district in Nevada" by Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on schools. The ranking includes a variety of factors such, as the strength of academics, culture and diversity, health and safety, quality of teachers, and resources and facilities. WCSD Opens 3 New Schools in SY19/20, the First in a Decade; Breaks Ground on 4 More Two new middle schools and one new elementary school opened their doors in August 2019. Each of the three schools, Desert Skies Middle School, Sky Ranch Middle School and Nick Poulakidas Elementary, were opened on time and on budget to outstanding publicity and praise. The additional capacity provided overcrowding relief, which has been felt across the entire District, impacting approximately 20,000 students directly and indirectly. Marce Herz Middle School, John Bohach Elementary School, Michael Inskeep Elementary School and Procter R. Hug High School all began construction in SY19/20 to help alleviate overcrowding as well. WCSD Facilities Management Department also successfully completed a District-wide retrofit of inefficient energy elements such as LED lights and programmable thermostats. These investments improve the conditions in every space throughout all of our schools and will reduce the utility costs to the District by over $2.3 million per year. WCSD Honors Outstanding Contributions of Nutrition Services Employees Although traditional classes were suspended in the WCSD in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nutrition Services staff members continued to work every day, preparing nearly 450,000 nutritious meals for thousands of children in Washoe County who might otherwise have gone without food. Nutrition Services employees prepared meals that were delivered to two dozen sites across the county and distributed by the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. At several other remote sites in the District, WCSD Nutrition Services employees transported and distributed meals to children. 40 WCSD Schools Offer Free Breakfast and Lunch for All Students in 2019-2020 School Year The WCSD offered free breakfasts and lunches to all students at 40 schools, regardless of family income, thanks to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Nutrition Services provided 1,726,798 breakfasts and 1,790,752 lunches at the 40 CEP school sites. Through the CEP program, schools in high-poverty areas offered breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge, and without the burden of collecting and processing school meal applications. According to the USDA, schools that implement this program experience great success, ease the administrative burden, improve efficiency, decrease the stigma of receiving free meals, and increase participation in their school meal programs. WCSD Staff and Students Celebrated Walk to School Day In an effort to encourage awareness about traffic safety when students are walking and riding bicycles to school, the WCSD observed National Walk to School Day with activities at schools across the District. This annual event took on a new urgency and significance as more than a dozen children in Washoe County were injured in traffic collisions—several seriously— since school began on August 12, 2019. In Washoe County, law enforcement agencies and community groups banded together to remind motorists about their responsibility to watch for pedestrians and bicyclists and give them the right of way. National Walk to School Day events is a collaborative effort between WCSD, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), Renown Regional Medical Center, REMSA, and Safe Kids Coalition. Students received incentives like water bottles, stickers, and pencils printed with safety Website:www.nevadareportcard.nv.gov Page 1 of 45 2019-2020 District Accountability Report messages that were distributed to participating schools. Teachers also incorporated the messages in their daily lessons. National Family & Community Engagement Conference Reno was selected to host the National Family & Community Engagement Conference as a result of the WCSD's leadership and sustained efforts in engaging families in partnership with schools. WCSD employs several strategies of its own and supports schools to help engage families. At the conference, D'Lisa Crain, WCSD's Family Partnership Administrator, was recognized by the conference chair as a distinguished leader in this field. WCSD Eliminates its General Fund Budget Deficit and Passes a Balanced Budget In 2017, the Board adopted a goal to eliminate the District's structural deficit within three years. In June 2019, the Board accomplished this one full year early when it passed a balanced budget for the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2019-20. This was the District's first balanced budget in 16 years and reflected WCSD's efforts to reduce General Fund costs by over $60 million over the last three years. WCSD is the first school district in the United States to implement priority-based budgeting, a national best practice for government budgeting. In June 2020, the Board passed its second consecutive balanced General Fund budget for the Fiscal Year 2020-21. WCSD Wins Meritorious Budget Award The Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) presented a Meritorious Budget Award to the District for excellence in the preparation and issuance of its budget for Fiscal Year 2019–2020. The budget adheres to the principles and standards of ASBO International's Meritorious Budget Award criteria. WCSD Earns National Recognitions for Financial Excellence For the 19th consecutive year, the WCSD has been recognized for responsible fiscal practices by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The group awarded its Certification of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the WCSD Office of Business & Financial Services in recognition of its award-winning Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019. For the fourth consecutive year, GFOA awarded its Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting to the WCSD Office of Business & Financial Services in recognition of its award-winning Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019. WCSD Receives National Award for Excellence in Procurement The WCSD was honored for responsible use of taxpayer funding The 2019-2020 fiscal year marked the 18th consecutive year that WCSD’s procurement team has won the Annual Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award (AEP) from the National Procurement Institute (NPI). This is the 22nd time WCSD has received the AEP award since the award's inception in 1995, which honors innovation, professionalism, productivity, e-procurement, and leadership attributes. WCSD is one of only six agencies in Nevada and is among just 23 school districts in the United States and Canada to receive the award. WCSD's Department of Procurement & Contracts is charged with using WCSD funds in the most economical and efficient manner possible to purchase quality supplies, equipment, and services to support WCSD's educational mission. The team also is responsible for managing all solicitations for WCSD's public works projects, including the new schools, safety improvements, and school renovations and repairs. WCSD Receives Favorable Financial Ratings WCSD now has "AA" ratings from Moody's, S&P and Fitch rating services. In November 2019, Moody's Investors Service upgraded the District’s bond ratings from A1 to Aa3, reflecting a positive assessment of the District's creditworthiness with its debt obligations. At the same time, Standard & Poor's (S&P) reconfirmed their rating of WCSD’s general obligation debt as "AA". In December 2019, Fitch Ratings also upgraded the District's bond rating from A+ to AA-. As a result, WCSD now has a double A rating from all three major rating organizations. A triple A rating (i.e., AAA) is the highest possible rating; however, there are very few public agencies with a rating that high. Bond ratings from the credit rating agencies are important because investors that buy long-term municipal bonds sold by the District and other government entities look to these ratings as a gauge of the financial strength of an agency. The better an agency's credit rating is, the lower the interest rate the agency generally has to pay when it sells bonds in the bond market. WCSD Counseling, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), School Police Services Awarded $7.1 Million in School Safety Grant Funding The WCSD has been awarded more than $7.1 million under Nevada Department of Education's School