District: 48 more schools needed

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

When the Clark County School District finishes building 88 new schools in 2008, as a $3.5 billion capital plan passed in 1998 promised, there will be little down time to celebrate.

District officials say they'll need at least 48 additional campuses by then, and they will likely ask voters in 2006 to approve a new bond issue to fund new construction. Based on enrollment projections, Clark County will have run out of elementary school classroom seats by the start of the 2008-09 academic year, even if all of the campuses are on year-round schedules, said Dusty Dickens, director of demographics and zoning for the district.

If additional campuses beyond those planned for under the construction plan aren't ready by 2008, some district schools will have to move to double sessions, Dickens said.

"That's not something anyone wants," Dickens said. "You wind up either having students start extremely early in the morning so that the next group can come in, or you have students getting out very late in the day. In the winter that means it's dark out by the time they're done, and in the summer you're looking at high utilities costs to keep things running through the heat of the day."

Student enrollment has paced the district's need for new schools, with the district seeing an average increase of about 6 percent every year, district officials said. Over the last decade the district's enrollment has increased by 76 percent.

In the 2002-03 school year, the district had 255,328 students. The low estimate for enrollment this year is 267,894 students, Dickens said.

In the next decade, the district expects to see the student enrollment increase by 51 percent to 405,610 students in the 2012-13 school year.

It's not just enrollment growth driving the need for more schools and funds, said Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations for the district.

He said there is new pressure on the district to keep class sizes small and fix aging campuses.

During the last legislative session, lawmakers ordered the district to come up with plans for reducing class sizes, something that would increase the need for more schools. Lawmakers also made adding full-day kindergarten programs to at-risk schools a top priority for the 2003 legislative session, a plan that, if approved, would also require the district to come up with more classroom space, Rulffes said.

During the 2001 legislative session lawmakers approved using funds from the 1998 bond program to replace five schools by 2005. The 2003 Legislature approved extending the program to 2006 and raising the spending cap so that Rancho High School could be the fifth campus replaced.

But there are at least 25 additional schools that need replacing -- projects that may have to wait until more bond funds are secured, Rulffes said.

The district also needs more support facilities, including regional bus yards and maintenance centers, and improvements to its alternative and special education campuses, Rulffes said. "None of these issues were dealt with in the 1998 bond measure," Rulffes said. "We'll most likely tackle them in 2006."

Voters in 1998 approved a 10-year $3.5 billion school construction plan. Each year the district raises about $400 million for school construction through bond issues.

The district is using property taxes to pay back the bulk of that money. The measure froze property tax rates. Taxes that would have been retired instead are going to the school district to pay back the bonds.

The freeze guaranteed the school district $2.5 billion for new school construction, at a cost of about $193 a year on a $100,000 home. The district is using other money to pay for the rest of the plan.

With the opening of 12 new schools Monday, the district has completed 43 of the 88 campuses promised in the 1998 capital plan with the vast majority finishing on time and on budget, said Fred Smith, construction manager for the district. Several campus openings have been accelerated by as much as three years because of continued jumps in enrollment, Smith said.

The district has also replaced three existing campuses, with another three to be completed by 2006.

The new Hollingsworth Elementary School on East Ogden Avenue will open Monday a full year ahead of schedule. The accelerated opening is a direct result of the flourishing growth in the downtown Las Vegas area, said Hollingsworth Principal Doug Wilson.

"Who would have thought a brand-new school would go downtown," Wilson said Wednesday. "In most regions these days it's the outlying neighborhoods that are growing while the downtown is getting smaller. New schools follow the kids, and I can tell you this area is absolutely packed."

Hollingsworth is also an example of another element of the capital plan -- the use of school prototypes in order to save money on design fees and land acquisition. The first of its kind in the district, the downtown elementary school is two stories with underground parking built on a five-acre lot, Smith said. A traditional one-story elementary school would take 12 acres to build, Smith said. The success of the current program may help the school district's credibility with voters on future bond issues, said Carol Vilardo, executive director of the Nevada Taxpayers Association.

"The school district has been very responsive in providing information and demonstrating that they are on track," said Vilardo, who is one of two public members appointed to the Clark County Debt Management Commission, which periodically reviews bond sales. "When voters approve a bond, people who pay property taxes become the lending arm. They have a right to know that the people getting that money are delivering what they said they would."