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StumbleCost cutting at schools pits books vs. personnel
Survey of principals shows majority would trim supplies budget
Thursday, June 24, 2010 | 2 a.m.
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- School District’s budget woes prompt shuffling of administrators (6-15-2010)
- Jim Rogers offers to lead Clark County School District for free (6-9-2010)
- Clark County teachers sweating out the budget crisis (4-22-2010)
- ‘Almost catastrophic’ budget cuts on horizon for Clark County schools (4-22-2010)
- Clark County teachers face peer pressure on furloughs (4-9-2010)
- School Board rejects moving schools to nine-month calendar (3-26-2010)
- Year-round schools could face calendar shift to save money (3-16-2010)
- Teachers resist increasing pressure to accept pay cuts (2-5-2010)
- Budget crunch puts shorter school year, teacher pay cuts on table (2-4-2010)
- Gibbons: School districts should brace for 10 percent cuts (2-2-2010)
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A majority of Clark County principals would rather have less money to spend on textbooks and other classroom supplies than have fewer fellow administrators on campuses.
The district is planning to eliminate 89 deans and assistant principals to help balance its budget. More than $145 million is being trimmed for the 2011 fiscal year.
One way to keep some of those positions would be to reduce the classroom supplies budget. Individual principals decide how to spend the supply money allocated to their schools, which is used for everything from textbooks to paper and pens, depending on each campus’s needs. On average, about 15 percent of the supply money goes to textbooks.
The district has seen its funding supplies shrink in recent years, including the elimination of $200 purchasing cards for teachers to use on classroom materials.
But Superintendent Walt Rulffes says a number of principals told him they would be able to get by with their existing inventory of supplies, so he decided to survey all the principals about whether supply money should be reduced to retain administrators.
Of the district’s principals who responded to the survey, 54 percent were in favor of cutting the textbook and supply budget by at least 5 percent. Seventy of the district’s 344 principals did not respond to the survey. That would save about 20 administrator jobs, according to a report that will be presented to the School Board today.
Rulffes said the survey results have him leaning toward cutting the supply budget by 5 percent, but the teachers union is against the idea.
For starters, 54 percent is far from a mandate, Ruben Murillo, president of the teachers union, said.
But what’s more important, teachers are going to be facing larger classes as a result of budget cuts, so the public should be “wary of cutting textbooks and supplies at (teachers’) expense to provide a way for administrators to come back to work,” Murillo added.
He also questioned whether returning 20 or so administrators to their posts would make much of a difference. An across-the-board cut in supply funding that would hit every campus would, however, he said.
“You should support the teacher at the ground level working directly with the kids,” Murillo said. “To me, that’s a no-brainer.”
As a result of eliminating 89 school administrator positions, dozens of employees are being reshuffled. The district is sending 46 deans and 43 assistant principals — two secondary and 41 elementary — back to classroom teaching positions. Additionally, 38 assistant principals will be moved to new administrative positions that are either in lower salary ranges or require shorter contracts.
A few principals told the Sun they worried the survey results might be viewed by the public as administrators voting to cut supplies for students to save their colleagues’ jobs and keep their own workloads from getting heavier.
But Valley High School Principal Ron Montoya, past president of the administrators’ union executive board, said he voted for more administrators over supply dollars as a matter of campus safety, not cronyism.
Some of the responsibility for school security falls to administrative staff who patrol the halls and monitor campus activity during lunch periods and when students are moving between classes. Assistant principals and deans are an important part of the chain of authority, Montoya said.
He said he is particularly concerned about middle schools. School Police officers are no longer assigned specifically to middle schools, which leaves it up to assistant principals and deans to support the campus monitors when it comes to security matters.
“There are going to be problems if we don’t get back the (staffing) ratios we had before,” Montoya said.
Green Valley High School Principal Jeff Horn voted against any cuts to his textbook and supply budget, however, even though his campus stands to lose an assistant principal.
“Obviously I want to save jobs, but the cuts to our budget have already been so deep, we’re going to have to struggle to make ends meet,” Horn said. “To have another cut to our supply budget would be devastating.”
Green Valley gets $150 per student for textbooks and supplies, which last year amounted to about $400,000. This year’s projected budget for the school reflects a cut in supply dollars of about 6 percent, or $24,000.
Even with the most careful handling, textbooks wear out and must be replaced, Horn said. And the price tag can be steep — $100 for a single volume isn’t unheard of, he said. With 2,800 students taking six classes, textbook costs can add up quickly, he said.
If the one-time savings from the textbook and supply budget were used to restore administrative positions, it would only be for the 2010-11 academic year, and the positions would then be eliminated. Additionally, principals were told that it was possible they would see a reduction in their supply funding but still have an administrative position at their campus restored.
Green Valley’s principal said he empathizes with the district’s struggle to keep schools both appropriately staffed and stocked with supplies.
“This is the pot of money we have to build with, and it’s only getting smaller,” Horn said. “We’re grasping at straws and ideas, anything to try and do more with less. And that’s getting more difficult every day.”
Discussion: comments so far…
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1. If comments are moderated by the editors, how did xinyue's comment get in here and after every other article?????
2. Cutting textbooks and supplies when we are at the bottom of the barrel in education in the US, which isn't at the top of any barrel in education seems counterproductive. I can understand the schools' not wanting essential personnel to be cut, especially if they need them for security (isn't THAT sad). Perhaps cutting at the head shed would be a better idea.
I think we should cut off our noses to spite our faces!!! How much will that save?
Nevada's Race To The Bottom...
We've DONE IT!!!
fire the gang of five under rulffes...
let's go thru their contracts...
in detail...
shall we..
We can only graduate somewhere between 40 and 60% --- we have cut students.
Teachers are now buying more supplies than ever -- some schools are rationing copy paper -- when a teacher runs out -- they have to buy their own -- we have cut supplies.
We have cut teachers -- classes in grades 1-2-3 are getting larger.
Now let's cut textbooks.........difficult to do homework without a textbook, difficult to read without a textbook.
Salaries, already some of the lowest in the nation have been frozen.
What's important? What's next? Cut education?
How many administrators' have touched a students life. My guess is none but they will cut teachers and keep these over paid clowns. Sad
From what I have seen most Administrative positions in schools are jobs that could be consolidated into the schools support staff since they do not require a great deal of training, knowledge or skill to perform. This is a great time to clean house and get rid of the positions that are not essential.
No, no Mr. Rulffes...survey the teachers! You know...the ones who really USE the supplies. See what they think before you decide they can do more with less. Let's see...larger class sizes with lower supply budgets...hmmmm....anyone see a problem here!?! If I am receiving 18 consumable math books for my class and my class list is at 22, how is another administrator going to fix that?
The school district consumes 50% of the state's budget. Be transparent, produce and publish for the public a financial statement for each school showing their expenses. We would be able to compare schools and see where the money is spent.
A separate finacial statement for the administration is also necessary.
"The district is sending 46 deans and 43 assistant principals -- two secondary and 41 elementary -- back to classroom teaching positions."
There is no saving of money in this proposal. These ex-administrators that return to the classroom will continue to get their administrator salaries in their teaching positions. That little perk is in the administrator contract. BTW - If a teacher is displaced and returns as a day-to-day sub, that ex-teacher will NOT receive the same pay he/she was receiving as a teacher.
It just seems that the perks ALWAYS go to the administrators, and not the teachers.... or the students.
Great leadership from Rulffes and Montoya..... How do you guys sleep at night?
CCSDTeacher - I'm not sure where you are getting your information, but it is incorrect. The administrators who are going back into the classroom will be back on the teacher salary schedule. It is the year round principals who will keep their salary for a year after they go 9 month.
While I realize that not all students have access to the Internet, has anyone ever thought about giving computer access to textbooks for the students that do?
The comment from CCSDTeacher is incorrect. Administrators returned to the classroom do NOT retain administrator salaries. Take time and check the contract yourself if you don't believe it. Don't go on hearsay. The only thing retained is not the pay but rather the seniority should one return to that contract in the future. The bottom line fact is that those returned will be placed on the teacher pay schedule exactly like every other teacher as determined by education and years of experience. There are no special perks. Please get the facts before you post.
Okay where is everyone's thinking. In industry the quickest way to cut expenses is cut labor. Now I can just see a teach in a class room with everyone in the class huddled around one book say the lesson for today is. Answer this one for me why are there more administrative people than teachers???? When I was in school the teachers out numbered the administrative staff. With the advent of computers I would think they would need less staff. Next you will be wanting to get rid of the students because they are too big a burden on the administrative staff.
For a group of educators, this seems like an incredibly stupid poll. How can principals possibly be objective with their results?
"A few principals told the Sun they worried the survey results might be viewed by the public as administrators voting to cut supplies for students to save their colleagues' jobs and keep their own workloads from getting heavier."
That's EXACTLY how I view these results. Their reasoning is stupid. "Campus Safety"? Really? We can't hire security guards for less than we pay a vice principal? Open your eyes and realize that your self-serving interests are reducing the already crap quality of education that our kids are getting. Your little union is one of the major reasons for our failure as a district.
Of course the principals voted to keep their colleagues rather than spend more on student supplies... Of course, of course, of course!
Cut the school board members perks and then cut president janison. This woman is a clown. She rejected the chancellor of UNLV working as ccsd superintendent for free. She would rather spend money that can be used for books or saving teachers than hiring a volunteer for free. What a screwed up state Nevada has become.
A number of ideas should be considered to back fill the holes in the budget. Maybe the schools should allow "advertising" at the school in return for supplies. Will OfficeDepot, Staples etc want to partner with the schools with advertising on the side of buses? There's a host of solutions that should be considered to get the supplies the teachers need. I'm not sure this problem is going to be solved with the traditional thinking of "we need more money".
LOL Ha Ha Ha, and remember the board still makes their money. Hoffman renewed his contract, amoung many others. Who gets screwed the little guy, why dont we just closed down the district and start over.
Great idea, lvstrip. Honestly. We keep trying to band-aid our f'd up district, or think that it just needs more money for the same crappy configuration/programs. We need to take an eraser and start over. I'm becoming a HUGE fan of the push to split up the district instead of having this ineffective monopoly.
Warren Buffett has a great quote: "turnarounds seldom turn". Of course that applies to businesses, but it also applies to these big government beauracracies. The foundation of our system is extremely flawed. We need a major overhaul of our entire system.
Today's kids are going to be in such huge debt on their credit cards and student loans that they won't be paying for anybody's social security--so forget about them. I can't afford more property taxes.
"There is no saving of money in this proposal. These ex-administrators that return to the classroom will continue to get their administrator salaries in their teaching positions. That little perk is in the administrator contract. BTW - If a teacher is displaced and returns as a day-to-day sub, that ex-teacher will NOT receive the same pay he/she was receiving as a teacher."
And just who voted in that contract? It wasn't me. Maybe you should stop acting like a legislator and read the crap that you're voting for.
Hey LAS VEGAS SUN, how come there is nothing in your story about the 70 PRINCIPALS, who chose in unison, to not participate in the poll?
The poll was a "no-win" for the principals.
Cut deeper into the things needed to keep our per capita spending per student at the bottom of the country and save the 89 AP's & Deans for ONLY 1 year or do nothing (like most cowards would do...isn't that right Walt!) and then let them go this year and have those lives turned upside down anyway.
If the princiapls agreed to move money this year, those administration jobs would have been saved for only 1 year anyway and then CCSD would have told those principals next year, "sorry but you made the choice".
My wife's 20+ year educational career hangs in the balance because of a poll decided to "get even" with The Administrator's Union and its leader Steven Augsperger, who by the way can't seem to be found lately. It appears he too has flown the white flag and given up!!!!
Way to go Walt, you must so proud of the legacy you leave behind.
3 years ago, we took out $30,000 in student loans for my wife to obtain her Master's Degree and go thru the CCSD REQUIRED Administration Classes. She is one of the most highly regarded AP's in the district becasue of her field of expertise in Special Education.
It's one thing to be demoted because one is not good at their job, but this goes beyond normalcy!
This is downright idiotic. Look at the money Ruffles (I know I spelled it like the chip) and his 5 goons are being paid. They are part of the Admin Union but felt it necessary to be on their own and have their own comp & retirement plan. This gives you the idea why this whole thing is a mess.
Thank you CCSD for messing with my family as well as the others, and its security.
What a joke.....no wonder why good educators vacate this district like the plague.
aphillips, you should read more carefully (6th paragraph down, 2nd sentence):
"Seventy of the district's 344 principals did not respond to the survey"
I'm sorry for what you're going through, but the truth is that cuts are happening all across the country. I know it's strange to have a union, government job and have to deal with the possibility of losing it, but cuts have to be made and we simply can't afford to cut take anything more away from the children's education or materials that aid in that education. The instructional spending is already far too low, we need to increase that spending and get rid of the programs/people that aren't being used and/or aren't for the kids in the community. If the union contract doesn't allow for you to pick and choose admins to cut and instead it's based solely on seniority, then it's a stupid contract and you should complain to the union.
The truth is that as important as your wife's job is to you and your family, the community as a whole benefits more from the improved performance of the students in the community. We value the quality of the education more than we value your wife's job (at least we should). Sounds cold and harsh, but that's the reality of the situation.
What a cluster! Those poor children.
With this kind of leadership and example, fifty-first is easy to understand.
Nevada will remain the black hole on the flag with forty-nine stars and some stripes.
Screw the kids, their tomorrows and their dreams.
No wonder we're still a one-horse town.
When you are at the bottom in funding and the bottom in outcome, and you are STILL TRYING TO CUT, what do you suppose is going to happen???
This issue of school supplies and textbooks for students goes back at least 15 YEARS. I remember several occasions over prior years, when the LV Sun, teachers, parents, and children complained or discussed the problem of insufficient funding for school books. In 1995, there was only 1 school book for every 3 children (in most classes).
I told (then) GOVERNOR KENNY GUINN (former Suprintendant of Schools in Clark County) about this problem; he said: "we are working on it." Well, Guinn is gone, the current governor is about to go, and NO ONE IS WORKING ON IT. How are children supposed to learn in or out of class, or do homework, if they don't have text books?
THIS lack of educational supplies has been a constant issue in Clark County - at least since 1994 - and is a major reason why Clark County is at the bottom of the academic barrel in student education, and graduation, levels - nationwide.
It SHOULD NOT BE A CHOICE OF A PRINCIPAL as to whether children have school books to use. The federal government, and the state of Nevada, both believe that children should be educated. Well, why aren't books being supplied to aid teachers to teach, and students to learn?
And I don't want to hear any thing about classroom SIZES. I went to Erasums Hall a HS in Brooklyn, NY, where we had over 5,000 STUDENTS - EVERY DAY. I had 40+ students in most of my classes. BUT, I learned because I had EARS to hear, BOOKS to read, and TEACHERS and parents who cared.
What are the PARENTS in Clark County doing? I guess the same thing the rest of the country is doing today; letting teachers and the government bear the brunt of educating children, without much help or support from parents.
So WHAT is a child's motivation to learn? No books, no attention from parents, teachers constrained for lack of supplies and support, and no apparent concern from school principals (who, this article says, want to eliminate school textbooks in favor of jobs.)
AS FOR THE COST OF SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS, I do not see why Clark County, or any other school district in the country, has to pay $100 OR MORE for ONE SCHOOL BOOK. Maybe none of the educators - beginning with Kenny Guinn - has the management experience to know how to bargin for bulk, book purchases, and does not know that buying school books for thousands of children can probably be accomplished with huge savings. Of course, I have heard that publishers monopolize and control book costs. Have alternatives been explored?
Well, if none of the above is deemed applicable to the continuing lack of SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS - due to the price of a book - then I suggest Clark County look for OTHER SOURCES FOR OURCHASING SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS - that will reduce costs; and PARENTS ensure the governor and legislature funds this purchase.
It may take a little effort to accomplish, but Nevada's children - and their self-sufficiency and involvement in the future of this state - is at risk.
Why not just buy counterfeit textbooks from China?
Socrates has upped and asked the $64,000 question - What is the MOTIVATION of the children to learn?
These little creatures are NOT automatoms; they do Not fit cookie cutters well, at first. They are AUTONOMOUS; they have unique genes, special plans and some talents awaiting development.
When you watch them play and learn, they FLOW! That is, the curiosity, the challenge to discover, DRIVES their actions. But when you see them in school, there is none of this natural inquisitiveness around. You see STANDARDS and worksheets. Quizzes and review.
It's money. Money is the culprit. We have falsely assumed Johnny will gain skill knowing that a skilled person is rewarded with gobs of money and all that pile will get you: fast cars, perfumed blondes with big hair and long nails, vacations in Aruba.
See, it ain't the money. It's the being George or dancing in the moonlight or making the jump shot from way out here that DRIVES Michael Jordan to be so hot, song writers to be so cool and your kid to be who she is. It clearly ain't the dough; it's the flow, the satisfaction of challenge met, the vision depicted, or the obstacle overcome that feeds who we are, not some NCLB score.
Intrinsic drive results in development, joy and success; extrinsic hoaxes vaporize on the road of life like the mirage of self-worth in dollar terms. Feeding our kids lies will beget disillusioned, lying kids. Showing them a tomorrow they can chew on is hookin' 'em up to their stallion inside.
Here's my question...if it costs approximately $60,000 to keep an administrator and there are 600 students enrolled...it's okay to further reduce the amount per pupil by $1,000? Really!?!
Ooops...sorry. I typed one too many zeros! $100.00. That's what happens when you got a running argument on several sites over the same issue. Also, many of the schools losing vp's are NOT high risk schools or schools with over 600 kids. Sure it means the principal works harder, teachers take up the slack, but it can be done. Think back several years ago when we had NO vp's in elementary schools!
It's all about the UGLY MONEY folks, and babysitting YOUR child. How many parents have children out there who are independent learners? How many people out there already have internet services in their home? There is a solution - K12. www.k12.com/nvva This is a FREE service and is a Clark County school. Textbooks and computer are sent FREE of charge to your home. Twice a year you get a check for some of the money toward the use of the internet. Supplies are also included. Mostly importantly, your child is learning. Check it out, you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. The school is K-12.
I forgot to include that your child is assigned a state licensed teacher. Your the main learning coach and the state licensed oversees their progress. There is also state mandated testing.
EMILY RICHMOND -
Please ask Mr. Rulffes to read this Discussion Page. I believe he will find some thoughtful points posted herein, which he should consider before cutting the Clark County budget for supplies and textbooks.
I would especially point to the special commentary by "By airweare" (5th above) - which essentially defines what teaching children is all about.
_________________________
@By airweare - THANK YOU for your inspiring commentary about children - how they are motivated to learn, and why. Such thoughts as you present are not often heard in discussions (even by educators) when talking about the education of children.
Children need educators and parents to help them; to guide them; to provide opportunities for learning - and expanding the world as they know it - through reading, seeing, touching, and doing things.
Children are born as innate, innocent dreamers. They become visionaries as they grow up - learning about life and having fun learning (if we make it that way for them). They find new things to do everyday, different ways to see things, and invent methods to explore and imagine what they might do with they learn - or create. Maybe even how to reach for the stars, eventually.
But they need guidance and a "laboratory" to learn in - just as a scientist has for finding solutions to problems. A child's laboratory can include many things, but IN SCHOOL - children must learn "HOW" TO LEARN. And this must include the use of SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS. The very foundation, and history of knowledge, of human experience - is recorded in BOOKS, and Books are still used in Colleges, et al.
So teaching using books is nothing new. The teaching practices of the PAST (using books and a blackboard), are how the educators of TODAY also learned how to read, and what they know.
WE CANNOT REMOVE BOOKS from a child's grasp just, because we have failed to manage a budget properly. For if we do, we will reap what we sow: ignorance and indifference!
Educators and parents are supposed to know all this. And they should provide help to children in their search for answers - to learn new things, to challenge them to reach beyond what think they can do, to help a child to understand a subject - in school and at home. But it takes Books being available to do this.
The goal: TO ENABLE A CHILD LEARN, TO THINK; TO KNOW.
Isn't helping children learn why people become teachers (at any level) in the first place? But beside having a desire to teach, they also must have financial and administrative support from officials like Mr. Walt Rulffes. And, THIS SUPPORT must include political support from the legislature.
This is about the future of Nevada, and indeed, the future of America.
So lets help our children learn. Give them a book to read.
Thank you.
@ACM - yes, my daughter often accesses the website for her math homework rather than lugging home the book. The only thing bad about it was when our internet inexplicably went down. Her teacher was understanding and she didn't lose credit though...
CCSD Teacher: The School District's human resources department has confirmed that administrators who are returned to licensed personnel positions do not retain their administrative salaries or benefits.
A copy of the administrators' contract is available here:
http://www.ccasa.net/1Negotiations/contr...
Reduction in Force is covered in Article 26.
The sneaky potential for significant damage comes to our children when we perpetrate these strategic blunders, the blinders like standards, NCLB and insistence upon achievement as measured by our pitifully narrow scope of assessment.
Not only is PURPOSE the prime motivator, but also when we try to ram 'carrot-and-stick' into the equation to attempt to influence children, the risk we run is potentially limiting the very highest level of creative and conceptual thoughts - the foundation of our progress.
Our human drive is more than biological - reproduction - and more than avoiding punishment and seeking rewards - carrot/sticks -$$, trips, cars; our internal orientation is to fulfill our lives, to find inside ourselves a connection of value with the universe, a set of skills and outlooks unique in all time, genetically updated material filled with capability and its attendant curiosity to wonder and figure and postulate and discover.
Bill W:'to strive to seek to find and not to yield!'
secret to success - err and err and err again but less and less and less
Socrates, JuneHogSalmon
Buy a book, take it apart, do double-sided copying of each page - get those plastic binders and make 'manuals' - I'll bet this can be done for a lot less than 100.00 per 'book'.... no hard-covers, no binding, just a bunch of papers held together with a long black plastic binding and a plastic shield as a cover. I once printed the entire 'help' section of a computer program installed on my computer and then took those pages to a post-net type store - had enough double sided copies made/bound to use as training manuals and it no where came close to costing 100.00 per 'book'.