CCSD welcomes new chief financial officer

The Clark County School District has a new person in charge of its $4 billion budget.

The district’s School Board voted unanimously to approve Justin Dayhoff as CCSD’s new chief financial officer. He will make $210,000, according to his contract.

Dayhoff comes to Las Vegas from Maryland, where he served as the assistant state superintendent from October 2021 to October 2023. There, he managed a $9 billion budget, according to his LinkedIn account.

“He brings core values which we as the Clark County School District follow and I’ve heard many of you say as well,” Superintendent Jhone Ebert told the board Thursday. “We need to make sure that every single dollar that we have within the Clark County School District is allocated to the classrooms to make sure that our students can achieve.”

Dayhoff went through a “rigorous process” to get the role, Ebert said. He went through several rounds of interviews, including a committee of internal and external staff as well as a CFO in a school district in the state.

Dayhoff will begin his role as CFO “as soon as possible,” according to his contract, which ends on June 30, 2026.

Ebert said Dayhoff visited Las Vegas and is ready to make the move with his family after board approval.

He brings decades of experience in education and education finance, dating back to his time as a music teacher and data specialist in New York from 2009 to 2012.

He is currently the director of education research at the education technology company PowerSchool in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dayhoff will replace Diane Bartholomew, who has served as the interim CFO since September.

His appointment comes just weeks after the School Board unanimously approved a nearly $4 billion tentative budget for fiscal year 2026.

In fall 2024, the district faced what was referred to as a budget crisis.

In September, CCSD announced a potential deficit of $20 million before lowering it to $10 million. It ultimately ended the fiscal year with no deficit after it made up for it by using money from its ending fund balance.

In addition to the initially projected deficit, there were also miscalculations that directly impacted schools.

In January 2024, the projected budget did not include the 8 percent raises it had agreed to with the Clark County Education Association teachers union.

That error led schools to recalculate their budgets, and many principals were forced to make cuts to staff and programming.