Editorial: Five years of progress

Friday, April 15, 2005 | 4:56 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 16 - 17, 2005

In April 2000, after his appointment as the next schools superintendent for Clark County was all but sealed, Carlos Garcia told the Sun: "I was brought up to leave things better than the way I found them." In reflecting upon Garcia's nearly five years here as head of the Clark County School District, we believe he lived up to that philosophy. Garcia announced last week that he was resigning effective July 13. He begins July 18 as the vice president of urban markets for McGraw-Hill, a national educational services company.

Two months before Garcia even began work here, in May 2000, he helped stave off what surely would have become an educational nightmare. Then-Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, (now a state senator) was circulating a petition to break the school district into several smaller districts. Garcia made it clear that he was strongly opposed to a break-up. He expressed concern, rightly in our view, that Clark County children would suffer under the plan. He said they would be segregated economically and ethnically. Less than a year later Garcia came up with a plan that has taken much of the steam out of the deconsolidation crowd. The district was divided into five regions for administrative purposes, each led by an assistant superintendent. It's a plan that has achieved the goal of being more responsive to neighborhood school issues while keeping the distri ct together.

Another big issue for Garcia was school funding, which he tackled from Day One. He worked with the state's 16 other superintendents in presenting a united front to a tight-fisted Legislature. They made significant inroads. The 2003 Legislature alone increased per-pupil funding by 7 percent. Garcia fought for full-day kindergarten and the state is now seriously considering it. The district's graduation rate improved under Garcia, as well as test scores among minority and special- education students. Reading programs in the lower and middle grades are now more intense, more students are taking algebra and there has been a sharp increase in the number of students enrolled in accelerated classes and taking college entrance exams.

There are many issues still confronting the school district, including finding a way to improve overall academic achievement. Garcia did his part, as did the superintendents before him. But as we anticipate Garcia's replacement, it should be remembered that a superintendent cannot alone work miracles. Good teachers are critical, as well as a state willing to properly fund education. In the end, though, it's up to another group to make the most difference. This would be parents, the ones who read to their children, visit their schools and instill within them the desire to learn.