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Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 10:01 a.m.
Sun coverage
With property tax revenues expected to decline even more sharply than earlier estimates, the Clark County School District must trim another $19.9 million from its operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
That was the somber message this morning at the Clark County School Board’s budget work session, delivered by chief financial officer Jeff Weiler.
The district has already outlined cuts of $120 million for the 2009-10 year, which comes on top of $133 million already lost through canceled programs, revoked grants and reduced services.
Employee salaries and benefits account for 89 percent of the district’s operating budget.
There’s “no more room to cut anywhere else other than personnel,” Rulffes said.
The School Board approved the tentative budget, with the understanding that staff would be submitting a plan to trim another $19.9 million.
“That’s the amount the (tentative) budget is out of balance,” Rulffes said. “We’re not home free on this.”
Any additional concessions the district can win from the unions in coming weeks, in terms of reducing benefits expenses, will “really mean saving jobs,” Rulffes said.
The district's tentative $2.1 billion operating budget was based on projected basic support from the state in the amount of $4,800 per pupil, a decrease of 3.2 percent -- $74 million -- from the current year.
Given that the Legislature has yet to finish its work, and the continuing shortfalls in the state’s revenues, the district needs to be prepared to see its per-pupil
allocation drop even further, Weiler said.
“In most normal years we have a pretty good idea by this time what our funding level is,” Weiler said. “Obviously, there are more variables at play this time.”
Schools will be staffed at 97 percent of projected enrollment levels, which will reduce the likelihood of layoffs in the fall if fewer students show up than expected. The move will also save $27 million in salaries and benefits.
The district is projecting enrollment growth of 0.7 percent, down from 0.8 percent this year. That would put the district’s enrollment at 313,688.
Statute requires the district to hold a public hearing on its proposed budget in mid-May and submit it to the state by June 8.
Included in the district‚s tentative budget:
*Eliminating 854 employee positions -- 209 licensed personnel, 592 support employee and 53 administrative. Some of the positions were vacancies that went intentionally unfilled as part of earlier cost-saving efforts. The district currently employs over 26,000 people, including 18,000 licensed personnel.
*Cuts of $35.5 million in administrative expenses along with 280 central office positions. That includes 56 jobs in the transportation and vehicle maintenance department, 48 from maintenance, 23 from human resources and 22 from student support services.
*Ending a teacher mentor program, for a savings of $2.7 million.
*Eliminating purchasing cards, given to new teachers at the start of the year, for a savings of $4 million.
*A 15 percent reduction in funding for athletics and extracurricular activities, saving $1.7 million.
Why not cut the 20 PAID vacation days given to ALL administrators? Teachers receive ZERO PAID vacation days per year. If we treated administrators in the same way we treat teachers, the savings would be astronomical. So why isn't this "little tidbit" on the table? Oh I know why---- teachers and administrators are NOT the same...... Oh I get it now.....
Parents if you are reading this "little bit of information," why not ask your children's administrators to make this cut.
If you read the article on the number of illegal immigrants in our schools you would see 10% of the student population is NOT the responsibility of the taxpayers in Nevada.
The schools budget would be in surplus and the unemployment in Nevada would be ZERO if the current immigration laws were enforced.
Contact Sen. harry Reid. Tell him to quit taking orders from Nancy Pelosi and work for Nevada. Put the E verify program back in place and make it mandatory.
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm...
Neiman 1: Sorry, but the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case called Plyler v. Doe, which says, in very blunt terms that no child can be denied a public education because he/she or his/her parents are illegal aliens.
I agree with you that the e-verify program is the only way, in the current environment, to encourage illegal alien parents to move away, and take their anchor babies with them.
However, in the past, I've written to Senator Reid on a similar issue (denying free medical care at UMC to people who cannot prove citizenship/Green Card) and he wrote back to say that it's a humanitarian issue and he is not going to do anything to deny illegals medical care or public education.
With this kind of budget shortfall, why won't the district get rid of the portable classrooms at overcrowded schools and use existing building capacity rationally. The budget situation makes it imperative that the district rezone agressively, even if that means stepping on some peoples' toes. Show some spine!
As I sit here and read this article I find it interesting that not one word on cutting administrations salaries? Always cut the little guy, oh no dont touch my salary. And when does it become enough. When there are no teachers left and just the administration. Is it then that they will realize that they should have cut their salaries from the gate. Im not just talking about schools what about the budget for Nevada, I have yet to hear anyone up in Carson City reduce or offer to reduce their salaries. Lets just cut the little guy.
"Let's just cut the little guy."
Because there are so many little guys--- that's the reason CCSD will only cut from teachers. And if you think CCEA will stand up to CCSD, the answer is an emphatic ---- N O. You see, the upper echelon of CCEA hopes to become administrators after they leave CCEA. Just look what happened to the former CCEA president, Mary Ella Holloway. She's now the administrator in charge of teacher morale.... what a joke! CCEA's Murillo and Jasonek will sign a special MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Rulffes and teachers' salaries will be cut. This will not happen to administrators. The administrators' union with their president Ron Montoya will NEVER accept cuts in their salaries. Why? Well, they have a contract with CCSD. And teachers have a contract that will be shredded right before their eyes. Thank you, Murillo and Jasonek.
Ivegotcha,
I have been asking the same question myself, and we can look further at other city, county and state agencies. It just depends on the strength of the union, and the "little guys" (the teachers) have no support. ZeddyBear is right. Look at the following info from a previous article:
Joe Schoenmann:
Sun, Apr 12, 2009 (2 a.m.)
After obtaining salary concessions from two unions, county administrators are struggling to broker a deal with a third -- the county firefighters union.
Foreseeing worsening budget problems because of withering tax collections, Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid and County Manager Virginia Valentine began talks in November with the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which represents 2,500 cops; the Service Employees International Union, which represents 9,500 county employees; and the International Association of Firefighters, which represents about 770 firefighters.
In March, the police union agreed to forgo a 3 percent cost of living increase that would have kicked in July 1.
The SEIU agreed this month to trim cost of living raises to 1 percent instead of 3 percent and cap merit increases at 4 percent instead of 5 percent.
To date, however, there has been no agreement with firefighters, who are to receive 3 percent cost of living raises July 1. The county cannot change terms of those contracts without union approval.
Why has there been no agreement with the firefighters?
Ryan Beaman, president of their union, said the county firefighters' position at this point is that they are "under our collective bargaining agreement until June 30, 2010." He added that the county has not proposed cutting the firefighters' 3 percent raises
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/apr...