Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Garcia, lawmaker heat up debate on education

The war of words between Republican lawmakers and Clark County education officials escalated Tuesday, as Clark County School Superintendent Carlos Garcia said in a letter to Assemblyman Walter Andonov, R-Henderson, "you do your job so I can do mine."

Garcia has clashed repeatedly in the past few weeks with several of the Republican lawmakers, who are seen as the holdouts to the speedy passage of the education funding budget and the tax package that would pay for it.

District officials say they've been forced to stop hiring new teachers because of fears that the funding might not be in place to pay them when classes begin in August. But some members of the Assembly Republican Caucus say no one opposes the education funding bill -- they just want it voted on it separately from the tax plan.

In his letter dated last Friday, Andonov criticized Garcia's decision to reassign 411 gifted and talented education teachers and literacy and computer specialists because the legislative standoff had forced a hiring freeze. Andonov suggested Garcia was "driven by political motivations, in order to arouse groups of parents, teachers and staff."

In his response to Andonov's letter, distributed Tuesday to district administrators and the Clark County School Board, Garcia disputed the allegation that the reassignments were political gamesmanship. He also questioned the lawmaker's assertion that education funding is a done deal.

"You would have me make certain assumptions," Garcia writes. "That the Legislature will finish its business, that education will be fully funded, and that the money will arrive in time to meet the payroll demands that come with hiring 1,600 new teachers. Please forgive me for looking at the 130-day track record of the Legislature in my decision not to accept those assumptions and to take action accordingly."

Andonov could not be reached early today in Carson City for his reaction to Garcia's letter.

The district hopes to return the gifted and talented education teachers and the specialists to their original classroom assignments as quickly as possible. If the Legislature passes a budget by July 1, the reassignments could be canceled in time for the start of the 2003-04 academic year in August, Garcia said.

If the budget crisis turns out to be prolonged, and the district must use its reserve funds to keep operating into the fall, further cuts will become necessary, Garcia said.

"Although you are engaged in a philosophical debate and what type of taxes are best and how much is a fair tax burden for citizens, I am dealing with the realities of paying the bills," the letter states.

School Board members Susan Brager-Wellman and Denise Brodsky said they supported Garcia's letter.

"The response was absolutely appropriate," Brodsky said, adding that Andonov has some misinformation that Garcia had to respond to.

Brager-Wellman said Garcia and the school system couldn't just sit back and not respond to Andonov.

"The letter was extremely appropriate," Brager-Wellman said. "He's fighting for education in the district."

Sun reporter

Dan Kulin contributed to this story.

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