Rogers’ remarks causing rift

Ed Koch and David Kihara

Thursday, July 28, 2005 | 9:53 a.m.

A little tension seems to be developing in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

Remarks by the university system's chancellor that the new superintendent of the Clark County School District should make more than a half-million dollars and his chipping in to help pay for a nationwide search has upset some School Board members.

School Board member Susan Brager-Wellman said she was dismayed that Jim Rogers would take his proposal to the media first.

"I respect that people have opinions, and if the public wants to come forward and share those with us we welcome it," Brager-Wellman said.

"But to basically go out there and say we don't know how to do our jobs is demeaning. It's counter-productive, and it's not how you start a dialogue for solutions."

Brager-Wellman called Rogers' salary suggestion of $600,000 "ludicrous" although she agreed the pay range for the next superintendent will likely have to be higher than the $212,242 earned by Carlos Garcia, who resigned earlier this month.

School Board President Larry Mason said he hadn't been contacted by Rogers but was waiting "with bated breath." Rogers' interest demonstrates how important K-12 education is to the future of Clark County, Mason said.

Rogers, head of the Higher Education System of Nevada, said Wednesday he has already raised $50,000 from local donors to help fund a national search for a new superintendent.

The pay increase could be paid through private donors and subsidies, not the School District, he said.

"I've lived in Las Vegas for 50 years, and I really want to see a first class school district," he said.

Rogers, said he is personally contributing $10,000 in the search for a new superintendent and expects to raise $100,000 that will be used to fund the national search.

"We've got $50,000, and we can easily raise another $50,000," he said, adding that donors such as Elaine Wynn, wife of gaming mogul Steve Wynn, pledged upwards of $10,000 after reading news reports about the search.

Wynn could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, and a spokesperson for Wynn Las Vegas could not confirm that she agreed to a $10,000 donation.

Rogers, who was in British Columbia on a fishing trip, said he has not contacted the School Board directly about his proposal.

Andre Agassi Foundation spokeswoman Julie Stipe said the tennis star and local education advocate has joined Rogers in pledging $10,000 to fund the search.

She said hesitance on the part of the School Board to accept outside financial help has not changed Agassi's mind about offering such assistance.

"Andre is interested in pursuing excellence in education and hopes that everyone wants to pursue the same," Stipe said.

As for Rogers' contention that he is willing to help raise private funds to pay the new superintendent as much as $600,000 a year, Stipe said Agassi wants to do what is necessary to compete for the most qualified people.

"He is supporting getting the best person for the benefit of Clark County education," Stipe said. "Jim Rogers wants to increase the salary to attract the most qualified person for the job."

The foundation's four-year-old Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy is a public charter school that falls under the superintendent's purview.

Rogers' proposal to increase the superintendent's salary is not without its detractors. Gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, said Wednesday that he will push for a bill in the next legislative session placing a cap on salaries of school administrators.

Beers proposes that the maximum pay for school administrators would be one-and-a-half times that of the highest paid school principal in each Nevada school district, according to a press release.

"Reasonable people differ on the solutions needed to improve our troubled Clark County system, and I believe that throwing more money into administration will not achieve our common goal," Beers said in the statement.

Rogers found Beer's proposal "absurd."

He said he would not support such legislation, and that top-level management salary should not depend on who works for them.

"Why not make it 10 times what the janitors make?" Rogers said.