Tiffany still seeks schools split

Friday, May 10, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, said Wednesday she will again try to push through legislation that would break up the Clark County School District.

Tiffany's earlier efforts to divide the district, currently the nation's sixth-largest with nearly a quarter-million students, included a 1995 bill and an initiative petition last year. She withdrew her petition after Clark County schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia unveiled an alternative plan to divide the district into five regions, each with its own administrators.

Since the reorganization, Tiffany said she has seen some positive changes, but not enough to change her position that the district should be broken up.

Each region should have its own school board and budget, which would improve accountability, efficiency and access, Tiffany said.

"The needs of North Las Vegas are different from the needs of Henderson," she said. "Each community should have more of a say in how their schools are run, and how their money is spent. To have one big monolith is a mistake."

School Board President Sheila Moulton said Wednesday that while she would be interested in hearing Tiffany's proposal, it was too soon to give up on Garcia's reorganization plan.

"We need to give things a chance to work, and I don't believe one year is enough time to truly do that," Moulton said Wednesday. "I know we'll need to do some tweaking along the way, but we're on the right track."

A bill that would change the state law and let Clark County deconsolidate its school district is in the works for the 2003 legislative session, Tiffany said.