Schools try to restore sports, bus service

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, May 16, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are seeking private funding for middle school athletics and a way to restore a planned cut in bus service for high school students after the School Board approved a $1.29 billion budget Wednesday.

In a meeting preceded by a protest of about 100 teachers and before a packed room of upset parents, students and school employees, the School Board unanimously approved a 2002-2003 operating budget marked by $12.6 million in cuts.

The budget proposed to the board included $345,814 saved by cutting middle school sports and $1.3 million saved by reducing bus service to high school students. Rides would be provided to students living 3 miles from school, instead of the current 2.

Other cuts included raising class sizes in the third grade and reorganizing alternative education programs and student support services.

"Not a single person wouldn't agree that this is the worst thing we could be doing and ... nobody takes pride in it," Superintendent Carlos Garcia said of the cuts.

"But the fact is, we have to submit a balanced budget," he said. By law, the budget must be submitted to the state Department of Taxation by June 1, Chief Financial Officer Walt Rulffes said.

But it was the athletics and bus service that drew the biggest crowd to the School Board Wednesday night.

"Athletic programs are the only thing some of these kids have," said Sam Blount, father of Isaac Perez, a custodian at Ruth Fyfe Elementary School who was killed in a May 8 carjacking. A 16-year-old has been charged in the slaying.

"If you cut these programs, more kids will wind up like the one that killed my son," he said.

Eric Fleischer, a choir director at Brown Middle School, said the board's budget "used scissors to cut out the heart of our school's spirit" by cutting sports for those students.

He also worried about the safety of forcing more students to walk.

"Cutting busing could cause more kids to fall prey to smoking a joint in some other kid's garage or become the victim of a crime," Fleischer said.

While board members thought corporate or community sponsorship could keep middle school sports, Garcia said it will be tough to replace the $1.3 million saved by reducing bus service.

Teachers, many of whom protested before the meeting, were vocal about the district's proposal for saving $3.4 million by increasing third-grade class size from 19 to 22 students.

"Thirteen years ago, we were concerned about having 30 students in middle school classrooms," Jackie Soden, a seventh grade teacher at Silvestri Junior High School, said.

"Now we have 40. This affects safety and education for our students. At what point is enough enough?"

The teachers also wanted assurance that they would get a 2 percent raise promised by Gov. Kenny Guinn. The school district budget included the proposed 2 percent raise next year for the county's 14,000 teachers, a $19.9 million item.

The Clark County Educators Association and school district are still in arbitration for this year's contract, which expires June 1.

Garcia also presented a plan that the board and superintendents statewide will push in the 2003 Legislature to avoid the cuts that have plagued the district in recent years.

The plan, with a pricetag of $905 million for the 2003-2005 biennium, includes a 5 percent pay raise for teachers, increased classroom time for students and more programs for students who don't speak English.

The plan would bring the state closer to the national average of spending per student, which, at $4,857, is about $1,000 behind the national average.

"With this plan, I can feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel, despite the tough year ahead," Garcia said.