Construction posts approved by board

Terry Webster

Friday, Aug. 10, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Thirty-six new positions for the school construction program were approved Thursday by the Clark County School Board.

The positions, costing a total of $2.1 million, were approved to increase efficiency in the management of new-school construction and renovations, Superintendent Carlos Garcia said.

The money will come from the $3.5 billion bond issue approved by voters in 1998. As approved, the district is allowed to use 5 percent of the funds for overhead costs, school officials said.

Board member Larry Mason said spending that amount of money sends the wrong message to the community when the district has been facing a budget crunch.

The bond fund, which is separate from the district's general operating fund, can only be used for school construction projects.

In other action, the board unanimously approved a redistricting plan for the seven School Board seats.

The redistricting, conducted every 10 years, was done to equalize the number of constituents represented by each board member. District staff members drew the boundaries based on national census 2000 data.

During discussion, board members said it was hard to give up certain areas they had worked with. But they commended each other for keeping politics out of the redistricting process.