School programs face cuts

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

Sports, music programs, guidance counselors, gifted and talented programs and reading specialists all face being cut by the Clark County School District in light of a possible $75 million reduction in state funding.

District officials began circulating the 55-item list to administrators Tuesday, asking them to mark what they wanted to see maintained, reduced or even eliminated. Parents and community members will get an opportunity to review the list at a series of public meetings that begin tonight at Cimarron-Memorial High School.

The district began planning the community meetings last week following a memo from state Superintendent Jack McLaughlin, who warned Clark County could lose as much as $75 million if Gov. Kenny Guinn's budget plan is not approved.

"We don't want to take anyone by surprise," School Board President Sheila Moulton said. "We want to hear from parents what their priorities are and have them fully understand the seriousness of the situation we're facing."

As Superintendent Carlos Garcia said, it's a list that could "blow your mind."

"There's nothing that isn't being considered," Garcia said. "We're not just talking about cutting to the bone anymore, we're talking about losing the bone altogether."

The district spends $7.7 million on the gifted and talented program and $14.6 million on elementary physical education. Both programs could be severely reduced or wiped out.

In a worst case scenario, the district could face having to cut as much as $160 million over the next two years, school officials said.

News of the list moved quickly through the district, reaching the ears of concerned parents like Ray Verhelst.

"I'll go to every single (public) meeting if I have to. I'm not going to stand by while they gut my children's school," Verhelst said Tuesday. "Do we want schools without music programs? Without gym? Let's be serious here."

The prospect of losing the money is made all the more painful given the $90 million that's already been pared from the $1.2 billion budget in the past three years, the district's business manager, Richard Ennes, said.

Some of the items on list, such as transportation and custodial services, have already felt deep cuts, Ennes said. School custodians are responsible for 32,000 square feet of campus space each, far above the national average, Ennes said.

The meetings are part of the district's ongoing lobbying campaign to not only keep the budget cuts from happening but also convince the Legislature to increase education spending over the next two years.

Clark County, along with the state's other 17 school districts, proposed an $879 million education spending plan known as iNVest. The governor's budget plan includes about a third of iNVest's components, including teacher raises and additional funding for textbooks and other classroom supplies.

"We are at the point that we can't predict what's going to happen during the legislative session," said Joyce Haldeman, director of community and government affairs for the district. "We have to put together a balanced budget by May, and we have to be prepared for the very real possibility that we won't have that money."

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, this morning called the town hall meetings "a game" that was more about scare tactics than fiscal responsibility.

"It's ironic they would do this when they were willing last week to give away $70 million from the feds with that little prayer stunt," Williams said, referring to the school board's vote not to ban graduation prayer even though it could put the district's federal funding at risk.

Williams, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, said if the district were serious about saving money it would fire Edison Schools Inc. and resume control of the seven schools the company was hired to manage two years ago.