State’s school districts unite to lobby for cash

Thursday, March 14, 2002 | 9:45 a.m.

Facing tight budgets, officials from school districts across the state were meeting today in Reno to discuss a unified lobbying effort in preparation for next year's legislative session.

It's been almost a year since Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia went to Carson City and pleaded in vain with state lawmakers for almost $500 million in new revenue for all public schools in Nevada. This year Garcia is taking a different tack, rallying the other 16 superintendents statewide to join forces and launch an aggressive lobbying campaign well in advance of next year's legislative session.

"There is strength in numbers," said Joyce Haldeman, executive director of community and government relations for the Clark County School District. "We'll have a stronger position if we go to the legislators as a group and say, 'Here's what will improve education in Nevada.' "

In preparation for today's meeting, the School District surveyed its 17,000 employees and asked how they would like to see additional funds spent. More than 4,000 people completed the survey, and the top two responses were to raise the state's per-pupil funding to the national level, and add an automatic cost-of-living increase into the budget for school employees, Haldeman said.

Other superintendents have conducted similar surveys, with the results expected to be shared today, Haldeman said. The goal is to compile a short list of recommendations that will be presented to the governor and later the leadership of the state's Assembly and Senate, she said.

"By the time we get to the actual legislative session, we hope to have a plan that a lot of people have looked at and had an opportunity to contribute to," Haldeman said.

Clark County School District officials want to bring their budget concerns to the state and have been decrying the "declining fiscal stability" of the district's situation. Administrators are trying to shave another $10 million off a proposed $1.1 billion.

Jack McLaughlin, state superintendent for public instruction, said he believed the School District's empty coffers are owed to dire straits, not fiscal mismanagement.

"(Clark County school administrators) have been good budgeters and set aside money over the years for all kinds of situations," McLaughlin said. "But circumstances have become so desperate that money is completely gone."