Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Garcia calls ruling ‘total validation’

For Clark County Superintendent Carlos Garcia, the opinion issued Thursday by the Nevada Supreme Court was a "total validation."

For weeks Garcia has fended off criticism -- primarily from Assembly Republicans -- that the school district's hiring freeze, suspension of the gifted and talented program and reassignment of literacy and computer specialists was a publicity stunt and not a result of the legislative budget impasse.

"They've been saying this was a manufactured crisis, but the Supreme Court recognized the dilemmas we've been facing are real," Garcia said. "Now I'm cautiously optimistic that the Legislature will come to an agreement quickly enough that we can put teachers back where they belong and undo some of the damage."

In its opinion the court noted that the legislative inaction had made it impossible for the state's school districts to adequately prepare for the coming academic year. The court also found that it would be "fruitless" to order lawmakers to continue debating the issues.

"Public education is a right that the people, and the youth, of Nevada are entitled, through the Constitution, to access," the opinion states. "If the procedural two-thirds revenue vote requirement in effect denies the public its expectation of access to public education, then the two-thirds requirement must yield to the specific substantive educational right."

If lawmakers approve a budget by Tuesday, the 411 specialists reassigned to fill openings in regular classrooms will be returned to their original assignments, George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources for the district, said. Additionally, the district will be able to resume making job offers to new teachers, Rice said. With school slated to start Aug. 25, the district still has about300 open positions to fill, a number that will climb to more than 700 if the specialists are returned to their assignments, Rice said.

"I rescheduled the new teacher welcome luncheon from the Cox Pavilion to a phone booth at the corner of Eastern and Flamingo," Rice joked Thursday. "Hopefully now I can start looking for a bigger venue."

The fact that Rice could crack jokes was evidence of the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling, as school district officials expressed genuine -- if guarded -- relief that a final resolution wasn't far off.

"Until everything's said and done I'm walking on eggshells," School Board President Sheila Moulton said. "We've been through a lot of twists and turns here."

Bill Hoffman, senior counsel for the Clark County School District, said he was also waiting to see if the court's opinion would be challenged, and whether such as challenge was even possible.

"We're all breaking new ground with this," Hoffman said.

Praising the court's ruling, board member Ruth Johnson noted that the override of the two-thirds majority provision wasn't something that should be taken lightly.

"We take the state Constitution seriously ... we don't dismiss that the two-thirds requirement was something the people of Nevada thought was important," Johnson said. "That's something that should continue to be upheld by future legislatures."

The upbeat mood at Thursday's meeting was a far cry from the somber tone since Gov. Kenny Guinn announced in February that Clark County would need to cut $110 million from its budget if his tax plan did not win approval.

District officials had planned to outline a series of contingency plans for keeping schools operating if the state's Aug. 1 payment from the Distributive School Account did not arrive, said Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations for the district. Those plans will now move to the back burner while lawmakers respond to the court ruling, Rulffes said.

Efforts to secure a short-term loan from the state made little headway, Rulffes said. State Treasurer Brian Krolicki told the Sun on Wednesday despite the budget deadlock there was no statute that would allow him to lend school districts funds for general operations.

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