Budget cuts could hit high school kids hard

Terry Webster

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Budget woes in the Clark County School District may lead to a reduction in busing services for high school students and cutbacks in music, art and athletic programs, Superintendent Carlos Garcia said Wednesday.

"One of the areas we are looking at is extending the limit for busing from two miles to three miles for high school," Garcia said in a luncheon speech to business leaders at a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

If that happens, high school students who live up to three miles from their school would either have to walk or find another mode of transportation.

The district offers school bus transportation for all students who are zoned to attend a particular school, but live two or more miles away from it.

Contacted Wednesday night, Leonard Paul, assistant superintendent for secondary education, said he is concerned about the impact reduced bus services would have on high school students from disadvantaged neighborhoods, as well as the district's attendance and tardiness rates.

"It certainly will impact the younger kids in ninth or 10th grade who don't drive and don't have an older brother or sister to get a ride from," he said.

A continuing pattern of rising costs and shrinking state funding also may cause music, art and athletic programs to be "trimmed back," Garcia said.

School officials stressed they are trying to avoid any cuts into those areas.

On another matter, Garcia predicted classroom size will continue to rise without additional funding.

This year the district placed one additional student in middle school and high school classrooms, Garcia said.

"What's taking place is that you get what you pay for," he said.

According to the district's analysis, state per-pupil funding should be at approximately $5,200. Currently the district gets $4,700 per student. The difference adds up to about a $200 million loss.

"We're sitting on a time bomb," Garcia said.

"Does that mean the state should talk about taxes? Yes. But it's got to be fair for everybody."

Garcia said the district "must have legislative intervention." Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Chairman Robert Forbuss called for leadership and assistance from state officials to fund education.

School officials are searching for $13.3 million in the 2000-2001 $1.1 billion budget in order to cover a shortfall they say was caused by employee raises and utility increases.

Garcia warned that he is not playing "Chicken Little" and that he has a 20-year history of scaling back school budgets during his administrative career in California.

"I hate what we did in California," he said. "We can't afford to do that to children."

Teacher salaries and teacher retention was another concern raised by Garcia.

He pointed out that salaries here are not competitive with other school districts in the country. Additionally, Garcia said 30 percent of teachers hired last year have already left the district for better opportunities.

A series of administrative cuts are expected to be raised at tonight's School Board meeting. Several administrators in the magnet schools program are being reassigned to new schools, Paul said.

In January, the School Board and district officials will finalize where all of the budget cuts will fall.