LAS VEGAS – It’s no wonder that citizens have a hard time understanding how public school financing works.

It’s largely because the media – which has the responsibility to explain the process to the public – doesn’t seem to understand, either.

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The most recent example comes from the troubled Clark County school district, which is based in Las Vegas. Local media has been reporting that the school board has imposed a pay freeze on teachers and other employees for the coming school year, in an effort to help shrink a $67 million budget deficit.

That news is not true, but that didn’t stop the media from running with it. The recent headlines from the Las Vegas Review-Journal couldn’t be more clear:

“Clark County School District says ‘no’ to pay raises.”

“CCSD teachers protest salary freeze for 2015-16 school year.”

The news stories themselves have been very straightforward:

According to one Review-Journal story, “The approximately 40,000 employees who work for the Clark County school district will receive no pay raises in the upcoming school year as the district attempts to fill a $67 million budget deficit.

“Jim McIntosh, the district’s chief financial officer, on Monday announced the decision to eliminate any salary increases in order to save $32.3 million.”

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A pay freeze would probably be justified in the cash-strapped school district, if student needs are going to be first priority. But it’s far from being set in stone, as reported by the media.

The fact is that the pay freeze was simply written into the first draft of the district’s new fiscal year budget, which is really nothing more than a school board wish list, according to Victor Joecks, executive vice president of the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

The budget can’t be finalized until a new collective bargaining agreement is negotiated with the Clark County Education Association, the local teachers union. And any sort of decisions regarding teacher pay will be subject to contract negotiations, Joecks said.

By the time a new agreement is hammered out, the pay freeze could very well turn into some sort of traditional pay increase for teachers. Nothing at all is set in stone, as evidenced by a June 30 memo sent from the union to its members.

“You have probably seen today’s news coverage, which reports that the School Board Trustees adopted an amended budget with a $67 million shortfall at yesterday’s Board meeting and, as a result, there would be a salary freeze for its employees.

“Let me put your mind at ease.

“First, as a matter of procedure, CCSD adopted an amended budget. The budget will be revised in the fall to account for the new student count and additional revenue streams that will impact this shortfall. Numerous Trustees stated during the meeting that they want to address the salary issue for teachers — they recognize the vital role you play.

“Second, salary is a subject of mandatory bargaining under NRS 288, so there cannot be any unilateral action. That being said, we are currently at the bargaining table. Yesterday, we introduced a package that includes critical big ticket items like a new salary schedule (steps and columns) to meet the needs of today and an additional PERS contribution.

“Last year at this time, CCSD also had adopted a budget with NO increase in salaries. A couple of months later (August 2014), CCEA had negotiated a new contract with salary increases and additional steps.”

How can the media, which has been watching these cat-and-mouse games between the school board and union play out for years, so completely misrepresent the salary freeze story to the public?

“This is so funny,” Joecks said about the news reporting debacle. “The union put out to its members that this is basically the district’s opening offer, they’re not taking it, and they are going to go bargain over it.

“The district is passing a budget with contact terms they want, but it’s not binding. They have to get the union to sign off on it or win in arbitration. The reporters are not following the beat. When someone puts something in front of them, that’s what they’re reporting.”

The school board’s desire for a pay freeze is certainly understandable.

The district will be taking in about $4.7 million less than anticipated in state aid, due to a big cut in per-pupil grants. The teachers are already getting a de facto raise, because the state recently imposed a 2.5 percent increase in the amount that the district must pay toward an employee pension fund. The school and employees are supposed to split the cost of the increase, but the district is picking up the entire cost, according to Joecks.

The district is also facing a crisis-level teacher shortage and says it needs to come up with bonus money (about $10 million) to attract about 1,000 new teachers.

Given all of those financial challenges, and the need to maintain basic student services, one might expect the union to be cooperative and accept some sort of temporary pay freeze. It’s not as though the teachers are hurting. Their average salary is more than $50,000 per year for a ninth-month job, according to media reports.

But teacher unions are traditionally unconcerned about the health of district budgets or the needs of students, and nowhere has that been more true than in the Clark County district.

In 2012, for example, the district sought pay concessions from the teachers union, to help offset a $63 million budget deficit, according to news reports.

But the union refused to make concessions, took its case to arbitration and won its raises, costing the district around $29 million. Hundreds of younger teachers were laid off as a result, but the older teachers still received their raises.

Last year, in a one-year labor contract, the union pressured the school board into giving teachers the money that was supposed to be set aside to attract new teachers and address the labor shortage, according to Joecks.

“The union doesn’t care,” Joecks said. “It’s just focused on getting more money for teachers. Last year it prioritized raises for people at the top of the pay scale, and the tradeoff was no money for bonuses for new teachers. The union took away that money.

“They push for more money for teachers who have been there the longest and have been making the most money, regardless of whether they are good teachers or not. That has always been their priority.”