Smaller schools called beneficial but costly

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

If Nevada built more schools to decrease the number of students in each school, those students would learn more, be more likely to graduate and would have fewer discipline problems, members of the Legislative Committee on Education were told Wednesday.

But the plan to make those improvements appears to be cost prohibitive, officials said.

The state already has 31 schools planned for construction between 2005 and 2008. The "small school plan" would increase the number of new schools to 54 and would cost the state an additional $183.7 million over the three years.

The average primary and middle school in Clark County holds twice the amount of students than the national average. High schools in the county hold nearly three times the amount of students than the national average.

"There is no dispute that we have unusually large sized schools in Clark County," said Joyce Haldeman, Clark County School District's director of community relations. "The No. 1 obstacle that drives many of our decisions, of course, is cost."

The committee's goal is to find ways to build smaller schools and weigh the advantages against obstacles such as land availability, cost and equity for students in older low-income neighborhoods.

Aside from additional costs, finding enough available land that is affordable is a challenge for the School District because additional school sites would require about 212 more acres than currently planned.

Since the plan targets new schools being built, the advantage of smaller schools would likely be reaped in the outlying rural areas of Clark County where growth is occurring.

"Again, the big issue on this would be cost," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, who chaired the committee meeting.

Some cheaper options being explored are:

The committee will meet Jan. 13 to continue the discussion.