Editorial: Building our schools

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

In the decade since Clark County voters approved a $4.8 billion bond issue to build new schools, construction costs have soared. As reported by Steve Kanigher and Alex Richards in Saturday's Las Vegas Sun, the average elementary school in 1997 cost $6.8 million to build. Today the average school costs $18.5 million to build, an increase of nearly 175 percent.

School officials are expected to ask voters next fall to approve a new bond issue - a $9.5 billion plan to build 73 schools and renovate dozens of others over the next decade. The cost is high because the Clark County School District has seen prices jump due to the cost of materials, which has dramatically increased because of China's ever-expanding economy, which has gobbled up steel, cement and other building supplies.

District officials also note that technology - from the Internet to security cameras - has added to the cost of school construction.

The School District is also supersizing schools. A decade ago the average elementary school was 58,000 square feet, and that has grown to 73,000 square feet to give officials more room to deal with the increasing population.

School District officials have tried to save money by encouraging more bidders on projects and by looking for ways to trim construction costs as well as operating costs. For example, they have added energy-efficient features to schools such as motion detectors to control lights and low-flow water faucets and toilets. Those items add to construction costs but provide savings in the long run. The School District figures it saved $10 million last year by doing such work.

District officials have certainly worked hard to stretch the money from the bond issue and can point to 101 new schools in Clark County as a result.

The problem is that even with all that work, children are still crowded into schools, making it that much more difficult to get a decent education. Voters should remember that when considering the School District's bond issue.