School district address adds to LVCVA feud

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

Clark County School Board President Ruth Johnson used her State of the District address Tuesday to further a war of words with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

In response, the LVCVA called a truce -- sort of.

Convention authority chairwoman Jan Laverty Jones said the two groups were not "at odds" over who has claim to roughly $12 million a year in hotel room taxes.

"The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority supports education and children 100 percent," Jones said at a news conference hastily scheduled in response to Johnson's speech.

Jones then unveiled a surprise: The LVCVA doesn't want the money, despite the claims of LVCVA lobbyists. The LVCVA wants the money used "in the classroom" for textbooks, libraries and teacher salaries -- not school construction, Jones said.

"We didn't want that money to get buried in another bureaucracy," she said.

At issue is five-eighths of 1 percent of the 9 percent room tax paid by hotel guests. The money now goes to the LVCVA, but the 1997 Nevada Legislature said the money will go to the school district's construction program beginning in July

LVCVA officials have said the district's construction fund is flush with cash. Lawmakers have said LVCVA lobbyists were trying to persuade them that the convention authority should be allowed to keep the money.

Jones denied that.

"I chair the LVCVA and I have members of the board here and I know I haven't lobbied anyone," Jones said. "I think it's important that we all talk to each other rather than through the press."

School officials had vowed to fight for the money. They have discussed organizing picket lines at the convention authority.

"The district intends to bring this issue not just to our elected officials, but also to the people of Clark County," Johnson said. She opened the annual address with an update on the controversy.

"As soon as the LVCVA withdraws from the field of battle," Superintendent Brian Cram added later, "we will happily pull our troops and tanks back."

During the address, Johnson outlined the district's aggressive construction program, fueled by $3.5 billion in room taxes, property taxes and real estate taxes. Officials plan to build 88 new schools in the next 10 years. About 145,000 students are expected in the next decade.

Other points Johnson made:

* The district's student population is now 24.9 percent Hispanic, the fastest growing minority group in the district.

* The district's computers are being tested for Y2K compliance and should be programmed by the end of the year so that no significant glitches bring district operations to a halt.

* A high-tech, aggressive teacher-recruiting campaign is under way to fill more than 1,500 positions for next year.