Guinn no fan of district breakup

Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

CARSON CITY - While the five candidates for governor have taken positions on breaking up the Clark County School District, Gov. Kenny Guinn said Thursday he can't because there's no persuasive evidence.

"I wouldn't support any kind of a program like that until someone hands me an analysis of what it will cost," said Guinn, who was once superintendent of the district that is now the fifth-largest in the nation with 291,486 students.

Guinn said he understands that in a district the size of Clark County, "you are going to have problems," but the governor wouldn't endorse a breakup plan and noted the potential problems.

"Someone would really have to show me how they are going to draw the (boundary) lines to have equality of funding ... because you can't put the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in two different areas," he said in an interview on the Reno television show "Nevada Newsmakers."

He also said a breakup may not fully achieve what it's designed to do, given the pace of growth in Southern Nevada. By the time a breakup could occur, Guinn said Clark County could end up with six districts rivaling Washoe County's district. Washoe, which ranks among the 75 largest districts in the nation, has 62,390 students.

The proposed breakup has become a political issue, and last year the Legislature voted to commission a $250,000 study on breaking up the district and how it would be done.

The five announced candidates for governor have all taken positions on breaking up the district, but Guinn said there's no data to back their positions. "I don't make decisions that way," he said.

The issue of the district breakup has those running for governor split. Rep. Jim Gibson, R-Nev.; state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas; and Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, a Democrat, favor a split, but Gibson says he wants to see more study.

Republican Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, are against the breakup.

State Sen. Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, the chief proponent of dividing the school district, said Thursday, "There is no huge concentration of 'haves' and 'have nots'" because of the way Clark County has developed with its "explosive growth."

She said there has been a "regionalization of the economic disadvantaged."

Tiffany said the legislative study would answer some of the questions that have been raised.

Cy Ryan can be reached at (775) 687-5032 or cy@lasvegassun.com.