Schools eye bond funds for shortfall

Terry Webster

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000 | 10:43 a.m.

To help offset a shortfall in its 2000-2001 budget, the Clark County School District may dip into funds generated by the sale of bonds approved by voters to fund school construction.

Chief Financial Officer Walt Rulffes said the district plans to draw from the bond fund for expenses relating to school construction. For example, he said, state law allows payroll costs related to the bond fund to be charged to it.

That's something the school district hasn't done in the past, Rulffes said.

The plan is part of an attempt to find an estimated $13.3 million in the $1.1 billion, 2000-2001 budget to cover unfunded employee raises and rising fuel and utility costs.

The district also is looking at eliminating overtime, putting some elementary school psychologists on a 184-day schedule instead of a 200-day schedule and delaying an increase in the fund balance, a reserve account, that would generate an extra $5 million.

Also, no additional staff in the areas of maintenance, construction, business and technology would be hired to accommodate new schools under construction. That would be equivalent to about a 7 percent cut in those areas.

Meanwhile, the elementary and secondary education divisions each are trying to trim up to $1 million in spending.

"It's very serious," said Agustin Orci, assistant superintendent for elementary education. "We've already had significant cuts. What we're doing is cutting money out of staff development and not replacing positions that we need to replace."

Efforts are being made to keep the cuts out of the classroom, but school officials aren't making any promises.

"If this keeps up, it's what we'll eventually end up doing," Orci said.

School officials are planning to meet in January to finalize where the cuts will fall.