Nevada state auditors say Clark County School District staffers racked up more than $50,000 on out-of-state recruiting trips to Miami, Honolulu and Houston between 2021 and 2024, and much of it produced little to show for the spending. One trip to Miami alone reportedly cost the district roughly $32,400 and resulted in zero new teacher hires, according to state findings presented last month.
Auditors Detail Years of Recruiting Travel
The findings came from a Nevada Legislative Auditor report examining CCSD recruitment and retention strategies, presented August 20 to the Legislative Commission’s Audit Subcommittee, according to the Nevada Legislature. The audit reviewed district activities from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2024, and as reported by KLAS 8 News Now, auditors described several trips as ineffective, expensive and noncompliant with district travel policy. Legislative Auditor Jeff Mullen testified that two of five tested recruiting events involved wasted public funds and lacked required district approval.
The Miami trip took place in July 2023 and involved 17 recruiters and principals, the station’s report notes. Staff conducted in-person visits at the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University, which has campuses in both Miami and Fort Lauderdale, and stayed five nights at the Holiday Inn Oceanfront on Miami Beach. The hotel stay cost $11,530, while auditors cited a total trip cost of about $32,400. The same account notes the trip lacked brochures or registration forms to justify it, with some hotel, flight and meal costs covered by COVID-19 relief funds. No teachers were hired as a result.
Hawaii and Houston Trips Also Flagged
CCSD spent more than $23,000 sending eight staffers to Honolulu in September 2023, where the group stayed at the Twin Fin Hotel on Waikiki Beach, the outlet reports. That trip resulted in two hires. A prior, smaller Hawaii trip involving just two recruiters cost approximately $4,600 and led to ten hires, according to the same account — a comparison auditors used to question the value of the larger, costlier trip.
A CCSD recruiter also billed $4,700 for a six-night stay in Houston tied to a fraternity conclave described as a networking event, per the report. Auditors found no outcomes were tracked to justify that trip’s benefits, echoing the broader pattern the audit identified across the district’s recruitment travel.
District Officials Respond, Point to Policy Changes
CCSD’s chief financial officer publicly defended the 2023 Miami trip in February 2024, according to a KLAS 8 News Now account dated February 28, 2024, with district officials maintaining that national recruiting was necessary to fill specialized teaching roles. The district changed its travel policies in October 2024. At the August hearing, CCSD’s Dana Crowley said the district now conducts after-action reviews following every recruiting event and reviews them monthly as a department…