School officials get earful on budget cuts

By Frances Vanderploeg

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 | 3:41 a.m.

Every morning at 5:20 a.m., Henderson resident BreAnna Morales, 17, boards a school bus to head to Canyon Springs High School, where she is a junior in the Leadership and Law Preparatory Academy. She rides for an hour and half before arriving at 6:50 a.m. — 10 minutes before classes begin.

She's worried that buses to the magnet schools will be eliminated as part of cuts the Clark County School District is making to its budget for the next biennium. Were that to happen, she would no longer be able to attend Canyon Springs, she said.

Morales brought her concerns to schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes at the Tuesday town hall meeting at Western High School, held to get feedback on where parents and students would prefer to see cuts made should the School District's budget be cut. Another was to be held tonight at Chaparral High School.

Rulffes is expecting the district will have to make $120 million in cuts per year for the 2009-2011 school years, or 14 percent of what the district receives from the state. That equals a loss of $370 per student each year, or 6 percent of the district's total $2.1 billion annual operating budget.

On top of that, school officials said, they may need to cut another $75 million from this school year's budget.

Since last December, $133 million has been cut by putting off expansion of empowerment schools, full-day kindergarten and gifted and talented education, and by canceling new programs such as assistance for students struggling with proficiency exams.

The next round of cuts would come from programs that would directly affect students, School District officials said.

Principals at every school were asked to meet with parents to discuss a 3.5 percent cut from every school's budget. Eighty-six percent of the school budget goes to pay salaries and benefits for employees, and the remaining 14 percent is for supplies, textbooks, activities and utilities. The Legislature already took back the half of the textbook money for this year.

There will be no way to trim 3.5 percent without creating larger class sizes, Basic High School Principal David Bechtel said.

Class sizes in the School District average 33 students per class, with elementary schools smaller and high schools larger, Penny Ramos-Bennett, spokeswoman for the School District, said.

The national average is 20 students at the elementary level and 25 students at high schools.

"We don't want to see students added to classrooms," John R. Beatty Elementary School PTA President Natalie Carter said days before the forum. "The classrooms are already overpopulated. It's not worth it."

The meetings provided parents with an opportunity to present their pleas directly to Rulffes, as well as Jeff Weiler, chief financial officer, Joyce Haldeman, executive director of community and government relations, and many School Board representatives, some of whom were in the audience.

Every family was also given ballots for the top three things parents want to keep and cut, which were left in boxes in the back of the room.

Among areas suggested to be eliminated or reduced were athletics, block scheduling, empowerment schools and one of the region offices.

"Our kids can't afford to have cuts," Gwen Campbell, who lives east of Summerlin, said. "We have to keep programming for our kids."

Some parents expressed concern that the School District was putting the brunt of the task on their shoulders, and others said they thought the decision had already been made.

"We have to at least plead our case," Henderson resident Laurie Stapleton said.

Terri Janison, who represents Summerlin on the School Board, said parents who think school officials aren't listening are wrong.

"We will make the decision, but why wouldn't I want to listen before I make that decision?" she said.

Sheila Lambert, who lives north of Summerlin, was appreciative of the opportunity to reach out to the district leaders.

"As a parent, I feel the decision hasn't been made yet," she said. "This is the first time I feel I've had a voice."

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].