Education ‘Flat’ funding better than none

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 | 2 a.m.

As schools prepare for state budget cuts of 14 percent for the next biennium, at least one funding source appears to be stable — the U.S. Education Department.

“From what we’re hearing, it’s going to be flat,” said Keith Rheault, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction. “What we got this year is what we’ll get next year.”

Nevada was expecting to lose federal funding for several initiatives, including a popular program that provides tutoring and mentoring to more than 3,000 seventh graders statewide. Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, was launched statewide in 2001 with $11 million from the feds. Half of the money was set aside for future college tuition assistance.

With Congress’ decision to delay reauthorization of the federal No Child Left Behind law, Nevada’s GEAR UP program is expected to hold on to its money, Rheault said.

Congress did take separate action on No Child Left Behind’s Reading First program, for students in grades K-3. The federal allocation was trimmed to $400 million from about $1 billion. Rheault said he was notified the state’s share would drop as a result. But then Nevada was the only state to meet its targets for student growth from 2005 to 2008, earning a bonus grant of $3.57 million.

“That brought the program funding right back to where it had been,” Rheault said.

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Flat federal funding is also a best-case scenario for the Clark County School District.

The district received about $60 million this year in federal Title I dollars, earmarked for the poorest students at struggling campuses.

“Given the economy, not having our funding cut is the most we can hope for,” said Susan Wright, director of the district’s Title I programs.

That doesn’t mean Clark County couldn’t argue convincingly that an increase is warranted, given the number of needy students in the nation’s fifth-largest district.

This year, 76 campuses will receive a share of the Title I money, up from 69 in the prior academic year. The funding is directed to schools serving the highest percentages of students from low-income households.

Perhaps the most startling statistic is the increase in the number of homeless students, which includes children living in shelters and weekly motels, and those with no regular nightly residence. As of last week, the district’s Title I Homeless Outreach Program for Education office had identified 3,194 students, up from 1,249 a month ago. Typically the number of homeless students doesn’t cross the 2,500 mark until the end of the academic year.

Despite the looming budget cuts, Wright said her office “is pretty calm” about the challenges that lie ahead.

“We’ll take every day as it comes and work around whatever we have to,” Wright said. “We’ve gone through our office budget line by line, item by item, and decided whether we needed it or not. The dollars we have we’re going to put into the schools.”

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When a technical glitch at Thursday’s School Board meeting delayed a staff presentation on school bus safety, Jeff Weiler, the district’s chief financial officer, used the time to publicly thank the transportation department’s staff for their hard work.

“Thank you, Mr. Weiler, we appreciate what you do,” said School Board President Mary Beth Scow. “You really drive a lot of our decisions.”

Amid groans, Weiler responded, “We’re glad you’re on the bus with us.”

The groans grew louder, and Weiler urged the technician to hurry and fix the video display screen, warning, “It’s only going to get worse.”

Proving his point, Scow said, “While we’re fueling this conversation ...”

Just then, the glitch was resolved, mercifully ending the pun battle.