School Board works on how to get another $879 million

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2002 | 9:16 a.m.

Clark County School Board members are gearing up for months of show-and-tell to try to win $879 million in additional education funding.

They're looking for creative ways to convince Nevada's lawmakers to approve the money at a time when the district's budget is under fire and the state is facing an estimated deficit of $800 million.

Nevada's 17 school superintendents have teamed up for the iNVest plan, which calls for $879 million over two years. The proposal includes extended kindergarten programs, increases to teacher salaries and additional services for non-native English speakers.

"We're grasping for the same dollars as everyone else in the state," School Board President Sheila Moulton said. "We just have to make our case the most convincing."

That's going to be extremely difficult for the district to do, said Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas. Williams, who chairs the Assembly's Education Committee, has called for an independent audit of the district's finances and school construction spending. He said the district's current $1.2 billion budget is already "a runaway train."

"I'm not going to vote to give them more money until I know what they're doing with every dollar we've given them so far," Williams said. "And I'm not the only lawmaker out there with those kinds of questions."

Joyce Haldeman, executive director of community and government relations for the Clark County School District, said the district wants to get those questions answered and then urge lawmakers to come up with the additional money for the iNVest plan. If the plan is to have any chance of success, its backers must be prepared to lobby early and often, she said.

That could mean attending neighborhood meetings, mounting a letter-writing campaign or simply keeping an eye out for a well-spoken parent willing to testify before a committee, Haldeman said.

"We're going to need all of your help in the coming months," Haldeman told the board at a special meeting Tuesday. "We have a real challenge ahead of us."

In an impromptu brainstorming session, board members tossed out ideas for demonstrating to lawmakers that the extra money is desperately needed. Moulton endorsed a guided bus tour for politicians to the most cash-strapped campuses. Board members Mary Beth Scow and Shirley Barber suggested sending students to Carson City to plead in person for the dollars.

Board member Denise Brodsky said she wanted to see the board focus on winning over seniors, who in turn could help lobby on the district's behalf. Older citizens without school-age children need to see the iNVest plan as a benefit to their own lives, Brodsky said.

"We're talking about a very powerful segment of the voting public," Brodsky said.