1. The board of trustees of any school district in this State whose estimated receipts from all sources provided by this chapter and chapter 374 of NRS are less than the total estimated receipts from these sources in the final approved budget for the fiscal year, and which cannot therefore provide a minimum program of education and meet its contract obligations, may apply for emergency financial assistance from the State Distributive School Account in the State General Fund.

2. The application must be made to the State Board of Education in the form prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and in accordance with guidelines for evaluating needs for emergency financial assistance as established by the State Board of Education.

3. Before acting on any such application, the State Board of Education and State Board of Examiners, jointly, shall determine the difference between the total amount of money appropriated and authorized for expenditure during the current biennium from the State Distributive School Account in the State General Fund and the total amount of money estimated to be payable from that Fund during the biennium, and shall make no distribution in excess of that difference.

4. The State Board of Education shall review each application and shall by resolution find the least amount of additional money, if any, which it deems necessary to enable the board of trustees of the applying school district to provide a minimum educational program and meet its irreducible contract obligations. In making this determination, the State Board of Education shall consider also the amount available in the State Distributive School Account in the State General Fund and the anticipated amount of future applications, so that no deserving school district will be wholly denied relief. Any money allocated by the State Board of Education under this section may not exceed, when added to all other estimated resources, the total estimated receipts in the final approved budget of the applying school district for the fiscal year.

5. If the State Board of Education finds that emergency assistance should be granted to an applying school district, it shall transmit its resolution finding the amount to the State Board of Examiners, along with a report of its then current estimate of the total requirements to be paid from the State Distributive School Account in the State General Fund during the then current fiscal year.

6. The State Board of Examiners shall independently review each resolution so transmitted by the State Board of Education, may require the submission of such additional justification as it deems necessary, and shall find by resolution the amount of emergency assistance, if any, to be granted. The Board may defer, and subsequently grant or deny, any part of a request. Any emergency assistance granted by the State Board of Examiners may not exceed, when added to all other estimated resources, the total estimated receipts in the final approved budget of the applying school district for the fiscal year.

7. The State Board of Examiners shall transmit one copy of its finding to the State Board of Education and one copy to the State Controller. A claim pursuant to a grant of emergency assistance must be paid from the State Distributive School Account in the State General Fund as other claims against the State are paid.

8. Money received by a school district pursuant to a grant of relief may be expended only in accordance with the approved budget of that school district for the fiscal year for which the grant is made. No formal action to incorporate the money so received in the approved budget is required, but the receipts must be reported as other receipts are reported and explained in a footnote as medium-term obligations are explained.

9. The State Board of Education shall transmit to the Legislature a report of each grant of emergency assistance paid pursuant to this section.

(Added to NRS by 1977, 705; A 1981, 300, 498, 500; 1987, 421; 1997, 557; R 2019, 4253, effective July 1, 2021)