District wants state to learn from downturn, save for next one

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The Clark County School District will seek to protect itself against the effects of future economic downturns by asking the 2009 Legislature to create a rainy day fund for education.

The proposal has the support of state Sen. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, the newly elected Senate minority leader.

In a meeting with Sun reporters Thursday, Horsford said the state should set up “priority endowment reserve accounts” for education, health care and social services. It would take time for the accounts to build up, but once they did the state could issue bonds against those funds and use the proceeds for projects, Horsford said.

“That’s much more long-term thinking than our two-year budget process, but I think our state is ready for it,” Horsford said.

On a separate school district issue involving the Legislature, Horsford said that if the Clark County School Board decides to sell advertising on its food service trucks, the revenue should stay in the district.

Because the advertising scheme is a response to steep budget cuts, Horsford said, it would be wrong for the state to reduce Clark County’s per-pupil funding, or demand a cut of any district revenue — all fears expressed by School Board members as they contemplated the advertising plan.

“We have a constitutional responsibility to fund education,” Horsford said. “And we’re not doing that.”

It’s unfortunate the district has to spend time on moneymaking ventures, he said, rather than focusing on ways to improve the graduation rate.

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Since 2001, more than 64,000 students statewide have received oral health screenings as part of the UNLV School of Dental Medicine’s “Crackdown on Cancer” program.

The School Board voted Thursday to renew its agreement with the dental school to provide the screenings. Parents must give permission for their children to participate.

The screening of 3,429 students in the Las Vegas metropolitan area last year turned up 22 cases of tissue abnormalities. In the state’s rural counties, screeners checked 2,079 students, finding 117 tissue abnormalities — 74 percent involving students who said they used tobacco.

Medical professionals expect a higher rate of oral health problems in rural students because they typically have less access to health care, said Christina Demopoulos, grant administrator for the “Crackdown on Cancer” program. Also, chewing tobacco is more popular in rural areas.

Most young people don’t realize chewing tobacco can do damage “a lot faster” than smoking cigarettes, she said.

The program’s statistics show a steady decline in the number of students who said they used tobacco in recent years. For the 2007-08 academic year, 16 percent of the screened students said they used tobacco, down from 22 percent in 2005.

That figure mirrors results of other studies and surveys. The Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted biennially by the state in partnership with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that in 2007, 14 percent of the state’s high school students reported they had smoked in the previous 30 days, down from 25 percent in 2001.

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After three extra weeks of summer vacation, teachers and students will report Monday to the new Jesse Scott Elementary School in North Las Vegas.

Of the district’s six new and four replacement campuses, only Scott wasn’t finished by the time school started Aug. 25. Construction of the school stayed on schedule, but road improvements and a drainage channel took longer than expected.

Part of the problem stemmed from a decision by Pardee Homes to delay construction on an adjacent lot. The district and the city of North Las Vegas had expected the homebuilder to shoulder responsibility for some of the off-site improvements.

When Pardee pulled out, the work — and its $1.5 million price tag — fell to the district.

The school will operate on a modified year-round calendar to make up the missed school days.