Lawmaker calls for school audit

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams said Thursday Clark County School District officials have mishandled a $3.5 billion school bond fund and called for an independent audit of the capital development program.

Williams, D-Las Vegas, who heads the Assembly Education Committee, said until he sees such an audit he would not support requests for additional education funding at the 2003 legislative session.

Williams has been openly critical of Clark County schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia's leadership, questioning the reorganization of the district into five separate regions and a management contract with Edison Schools Inc.

Williams also said the district isn't doing enough to hire minorities, small-business owners and women for the numerous construction projects funded by the taxpayer dollars.

Fred Smith, construction manager for the School District's facilities division, said by law the lowest bid for a job must be accepted.

That doesn't mean the district hasn't tried to encourage minorities, Smith said. A consultant was brought in about five years ago to help minority subcontractors get bonded for insurance, one of the main stumbling blocks to a successful bid, Smith said.

Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of finance for the School District, said the bond fund is already audited annually by the same accounting firm used by state government.

Voters in 1998 approved a plan that would assure the district $3.5 billion in tax revenue over 10 years to pay for the construction of 88 new schools and renovate and improve existing campuses. Each year, district officials must get permission from the Clark County Debt Management Commission to issue additional bonds.

At a press conference held at the Urban Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas, Williams and longtime School Board critic Louis Overstreet accused district officials of improperly spending bond money to cover budget shortfalls.

Hannah Brown, president of the Urban Chamber of Commerce, said her organization's research shows the district should have completed $1 billion more construction than it has by now.

Brown is wrong, Rulffes said. The district is actually ahead of new construction -- having advanced projects estimated at between $200 million and $300 million ahead of schedule, he said. The district is behind on about $100 million on renovations, Rulffes said.

The School District's soaring enrollment made new school construction the top priority, Rulffes said.

"We had to deal with all of the students who had no classrooms before we could fix up the schools we already had," Rulffes said.

The School Board approved earlier this year the hiring of 106 additional facilities employees to speed up the renovation and repair schedule, Rulffes said. Because bond funds cannot be spent on operational expenses or salaries, the new workers will be paid for with the district's share of the motor vehicle privilege tax.