Goodman rejects school district breakup

Terry Webster

Friday, Jan. 14, 2000 | 11:29 a.m.

Despite comments to the contrary Thursday by Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says he is not in favor of breaking up the Clark County School District.

Tiffany, R-Henderson, announced Thursday that she will file an initiative petition today that would permit cities in Clark County with populations exceeding 125,000 to create their own school districts.

The petition, if passed, would immediately enable Las Vegas and Henderson to break away, and soon enable North Las Vegas, where the population exceeds 116,000.

In announcing the petition drive, which she said is aimed at improving education in the Las Vegas Valley, Tiffany said Thursday she had talked to the mayors of Henderson, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas.

She said Goodman feels having a school district in the city boundaries would mean it would be community based with like minds and like needs.

But in a written statement he issued Thursday after her statement was reported, Goodman took strong exception to the break-away concept.

"I am against the de-consolidation of the school district in Las Vegas because it would cause a terrible rift between rich and poor," Goodman said.

Reached this morning, Tiffany stood by her original statement regarding Goodman's position, despite the mayor's response. She said her initial comments were correctly reported and added she never said the mayor endorsed the petition.

The Clark County School District is the eighth largest in the nation with an enrollment of 217,000.

Whether they would support splitting up the school district or not, school officials share Goodman's concern.

"I've expressed before that I don't go along with it," said School Board member Shirley Barber. "Even more so than now, I think there would be haves and have-nots in the district. I can see a lot of concerns there, especially in my area."

Two board members, Ruth Johnson and Larry Mason, said they would like to look at the concept.

"I'd love to look at it," Johnson said, cautioning that all of the implications would have to be examined.

Mason agreed.

"If there's a way to keep equity, and everyone receives an equal share of revenue I would consider it," he said.

Allin Chandler, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators, said de-consolidation is something that "needs to proceed very slowly."

"Depending on how it was geographically created, it could create haves and have-nots," Chandler said. "Whether it could assure the education would be equal between the districts would be of great significance."

"State law establishes school districts," Hoffman said. "In the final analysis, we would be able to assist and provide whatever input we wanted, such as what the benefits and difficulties would be."

Superintendent Brian Cram said, "Basically, this issue is not new," adding that the issue was studied by a legislative committee in 1996.

Referring to the committee's study, Cram also expressed concerns about economic and racial disparity if a break-up occurred.

Cram said one district could have surplus classroom seats while another could be desperate for space.

Given the high transiency rate, Cram questioned how districts would affect curriculum.

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