District facing shortage of classroom seats

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.

Faced with an impending shortage of classroom seats and rising construction costs, Clark County School District staff is expected to recommend tonight that the School Board set new limits on renovations as a means of conserving cash for building projects.

Officials said the district also needs to take on more debt in coming years to build more schools and needs to again consider various school-year scheduling options to try to accomodate the burgeoning enrollment.

Based on the latest enrollment projections the district could be short eight elementary schools by 2008, leaving 7,538 students without seats, said Dusty Dickens, director of zoning and demographics for the district. That's the same year the district's current $3.5 billion capital plan expires.

If no new schools are approved beyond those already in the pipeline, that deficit of seats could more than double by 2009, to 23 schools or 16,454 seats, Dickens said.

District officials say they plan to go back to voters in 2008 to ask for another extension of an allocation of property taxes to the district and to ask for approval to sell more bonds. That would allow the district to raise an additional $3.5 billion over 10 years for 72 new schools.

Voters in 1998 agreed to let the district sell bonds to pay for new schools. Voters also approved extending a portion of the property tax that was due to sunset, guaranteeing the district 55 cents for every $100 of assessed value for 10 years. The district uses a combination of revenues from its share of the property tax, the hotel room tax and the real estate transfer tax to pay back the debt from bond sales.

In the past the district has managed to have "seamless transitions" between bond measures, said Clark County School Board member Susan Brager-Wellman. Voters in 1994 approved letting the district sell $605 million in bonds for new construction and renovations.

"The growth isn't going to stop between (bond) measures and we can't either," Brager-Wellman said. "We've been very fortunate at the level of voter support we've received that has made it possible for us to keep abreast for 11 years."

The Clark County School Board will meet today for a work session to discuss everything from long-range facilities planning to the possible fiscal impact of a freeze on property taxes, which the Legislature is discussing.

School Board members will also consider a variety of plans that look ahead to 2008 and beyond, including moving more elementary schools to year-round calendars to free up seats.

But even with the best-laid plans, the district will eventually need to go back to voters for more money, Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said.

The district is expected to ask voters to approve an extension of a 1998 plan that allocates to the district $2.5 billion from property taxes and other government revenue over 10 years. The district leveraged that government revenue into another $1 billion in funding from bond sales. District officials envision a similar plan in 2008.

"We're going to need more schools and the only way to do that is to pass a bond measure, " he said. "Right now is not a good time to even entertain such an issue, with the public's mood being what it is and the uncertainty about the (proposed) tax cap. But what people have to realize is that we have to start laying some of the groundwork now so no one is surprised down the road when we do go back to the voters for their support."

That "groundwork" could include pulling back on major renovations, campus replacements and new construction projects that are not deemed necessities, said Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations for the district.

At tonight's meeting, Rulffes said he will broach the idea of a moratorium on replacing older schools and modernization projects with the School Board. The $840 million in renovations promised as part of the 1998 bond measure would continue as planned, Rulffes said.

The 2001 Legislature also required the district to set aside $90 million in bond funds to replace five older schools, a mandate that was expanded in the following legislative session to 10 additional campuses at a cost not to exceed $230 million. Those replacement projects would not be interrupted by the proposed moratorium, Rulffes said.

Thanks to soaring property values, the district could see as much as $800 million in revenues over the $2.5 billion guaranteed by voters, Rulffes said. While that windfall could be significantly less if a property tax freeze were enacted, the district would still have enough funds to complete the new construction and renovations outlined in the 1998 program, Rulffes said.

What has district officials worried, however, is sharply rising construction costs, Rulffes said. Two new projects, a special education campus and a human resources intake center, both came in with winning bids at more than 48 percent above the estimated budget, Rulffes said. A shortage of qualified labor and contractors who have their choice of jobs contributed to the sharp price increase, Rulffes said.

"If we don't do everything we can to keep the costs down any surplus we might see (from property taxes and bond sales) will disappear very rapidly," Rulffes said. "We're talking about very serious levels of cost escalation and I would recommend a moratorium on any additions to the 1998 program until those issues are resolved."

The district has $178 million in renovation and replacement projects slated for the 2004-05 fiscal year alone, including $16.2 million at Valley High School and $20.4 million at Clark High School.

State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said Tuesday they were pleased with the quality of the district's management of the current construction program.

"They deserve a lot of credit for opening schools on time and on budget," said Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, in an e-mail reply to an interview request.

However, Hardy said, there should be public discussion of the wages paid on school construction projects to ensure the "prevailing wage" mandate for public works jobs is actually met. The district might be able to stretch its construction dollars even further if the wage scale were more consistent, Hardy said.

"It is so out of whack with the private sector wage that something needs to be done," Hardy said.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said the recent favorable legislative audit of the district's operations was reassuring and he would support plans to go back to voters for additional funds.

"The children are our future and we must take care of them just as our parents did," Coffin said in an e-mail.

Coffin said he was in favor of more flexible class size reduction plans, provided it wasn't used by the district as an excuse to increase class sizes in the lower grades. State statute currently limits class sizes in grades one, two and three but sets no limits on upper grades.

The projected shortage of classroom seats at the elementary school level is largely due to the county's ever-rising birth rate, Dickens said.

For the past three years, the number of children entering first grade has been at least 100 percent of the number of children born in Clark County six years earlier, Dickens said.

"There is no indication anywhere on the horizon that things are going to slow down," Dickens said.

The district looked at what would happen if it moved all elementary schools to year-round schedules in order to maximize capacity. Dickens said the district would still be short one school.

Nine-month calendars are favored by most families, who aren't shy about complaining when their children are assigned to the less popular "track" schedules at year-round schools. Switching more elementary schools to nine-month calendars is an eventual goal, but one that has to wait until enrollment growth levels off, Dickens said. The district, currently the nation's fifth largest with over 280,000 students, adds about 12,000 students annually.

The shortage of classroom seats could be even worse if the Legislature mandated tougher restrictions on class sizes or the district decided to build smaller schools, Dickens said. The Legislature is being asked to consider allowing Clark and Washoe counties more flexibility in its class size reduction plans, an option already available to the state's 15 rural districts.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said the district would be wise to take a "wait and see" approach on the property tax freeze debate.

"I think all 63 of us (lawmakers) believe education funding is important and we want to see schools get what they need," Cegavske said. "I don't believe we would allow schools to be hurt by anything we ultimately decide about property taxes."

As for plans to go back to voters for permission to roll over the bond measure, the district should avoid "scare tactics," Cegavske said. That would include claims that all elementary schools might be forced onto year-round schedules or even split sessions, Cegavkse said.

"It's disingenous of the district to say the sky is falling when it really isn't," Cegavske said. "They did that last time (during the 2003 legislative session) and it backfired on them. They don't need to scare parents or kids. They should plead their case to voters in a forthright manner."