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Clark County Schools Superintendent Dwight Jones delivers his second annual “State of the District” address on Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, at Western High School. Jones unveiled a new online “Open Book” portal, which makes the district’s financial information public, and touted the district’s academic gains last school year.
By Paul Takahashi (contact) 
Published Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 | 11:57 a.m.
Updated Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 | 3:44 p.m.
The Clark County School District on Monday unveiled a new website that makes it easier for the public to view the district’s financial records.
Each year the School District releases a 200-page "comprehensive annual financial report" and other budget documents to comply with the state's open government laws. However, these fiscal papers are often difficult for the average lay person to understand.
Clark County Schools Superintendent Dwight Jones used his second State of the District address to launch an "Open Book" website in an effort to make the district's financial records more transparent to the public.
The new online tool features a breakdown of the district’s spending and expenses by department, and it allows visitors to submit ideas for budget savings. The portal will help ensure the district is accountable for every dollar it spends, Jones said.
"This is the kind of transparency that our taxpayers expect and deserve," Jones said. "Taxpayers need to know that dollars are being spent on needs, not luxuries."
The "Open Books" portal sheds new light on the district's financial situation, which until now had been buried under hundreds of pages of documents.
The nation's fifth-largest school district spends $8,252 in annual per-pupil funding, which equates to about $45 per student per day. That means the School District spends less on each student than any of the four largest school districts in the country.
Most of the per-pupil money goes to teachers' salaries and benefits, which constitute about 90 percent of the district's $2 billion general fund budget. Teacher, support staff and administrator salaries and benefits constitute about $26 of the $45 per student per day expenditure.
Other major expenses include custodial and grounds maintenance, utilities and student transportation.
Some of the daily per-pupil expenditure figures may surprise the public, Jones said. Among the statistics cited on the portal:
• The School District spends 54 cents per student per day on technology, and $1 per student per day on school materials. School police get 36 cents per student per day.
• The School District spends 14 cents per day on each one of its English-language learner students. There are more than 54,000 limited English-proficient students in Clark County, constituting about 18 percent of the district's overall student population.
• Nevada also has fewer administrators per student than any other state in the nation. Clark County has the lowest administrator to student ratio in the state, with one administrator per 341 students.
"We're one of the lowest in the country in terms of investing in our young people," Jones said. "If we want all students to be proficient in reading by third grade, we've got to invest in education."
The "Open Books" initiative comes just two months after voters in November overwhelmingly rejected the district's tax initiative for school repairs. After the failure of Ballot Question 2, Jones said he was resolved to better communicate the district's needs and investments.
"I heard the message loud and clear," Jones said. "(The public wasn't) convinced we would spend the money wisely. … You can't earn the community's trust without an open book."
The new website also comes less than month before the Legislature reconvenes in Carson City. The School District is expected to lobby for more funding to pay for early childhood programs, English Language Learner students and to help alleviate school overcrowding.
Gov. Brian Sandoval is expected to restore about $40 million in funding to the School District, which represents about 2 percent of the district's annual general fund budget.
However, with automatic teacher raises and employee pension increases, that funding increase may have little effect on students and won't come close to restoring some $500 million in budget cuts to Clark County schools since the recession began five years ago.
"That 2 percent doesn't catch us up," Jones said. "We could be facing another difficult budget. We're going to do all that we can to keep cuts away from kids and restore some of the funds we've lost."
About 350 people, including legislators, School Board members and other community leaders, attended Jones' hour-long State of the District address at Western High School. Jones touched upon a variety of topics, including improving the teaching profession, boosting the district's technology offerings and a new, more-rigorous Common Core curriculum.
Jones also commended schools for making gains in graduation rates and test scores last school year. These improvements were a significant achievement, Jones said, especially considering the effects of the Great Recession on Las Vegas.
Jones likened the district's academic progress to a marathon.
"We've passed some early mile markers, but the finish line is still out over the horizon," Jones said. "There is still much work to be done."
Looking at the figures, I wonder if the School District really needs to spend $281,000 on five sprinkler technicians. $350,000 on seven truck drivers. $450,000 on seven custodial supervisors plus $120,000 on two assistant custodial supervisors.
Truck drivers and sprinkler technicians are services that can be outsourced. How much work in the summer are the truck drivers doing?
That is just a brief overview. $140,000 on mileage for the office of deputy superintendent needs to be looked at too.
This could be a good thing getting opinions from the taxpayers. At the very least we can have our views looked at.
Sounds like something that is long overdue.
Tigermike;
I'm wondering the same thing...but what I'm REALLY wondering about is what the school district has managed to hide, if this is part of their "open books" they are willing to share with the public.
I will only accept financial and disclosure statements audited by an outside source...not any smoke and mirrors tripe by a government agency.
That's right state of nevada, clark county, city of where ever...no one TRUSTS YOU ANYMORE, you have been exposed as a pack of lying thieves...and that's one of your better traits.
I only needed look at the report for 5 minutes to see the big lie. They call it a general fund budget and calculate per pupil funding based on that and totally omit the billions spent on bonds for all the construction of the past 20 years. Most school districts include all per pupil spending, Clark county likes us to think we are ranked at the bottom to continue the big lie and cry for more money.
A little over half of 1% on construction. What BS?
8500 per pupil is bs, more like 12k or so.
What the "Open Door" site does is just break down the approved budget. It tells you where the money is supposed to be spent.
What is lacking is a comparison of what was budgeted versus ACTUAL EXPENDITURES. As I look at the figures for the Superintendents office, I see no line item for overtime. According to Transparent Nevada, in 2011, the people in the Superintendents office had over 66K in overtime and other pay. Where is that reflected in the documents posted on line, or is there going to be no overtime in the Superintendent's office?
Where does the district stand as far as what the budget says compared to the actual expenditures during the current fiscal year. Without a comparision of actual expenditures to the budget, the information is meaningless. All they are showing is what the plan is for spending the money. What people are interested in is not only the plan, but what has actually happened.
This is a link to Transparent Nevada.
http://transparentnevada.com/salaries/se...
Taxpayers and citizens need to see the financial data for all the charter schools. Charter school proponents are spending millions in campaign finance and on PR campaigns telling the public that citizens must hold public schools financially accountable. Where is the data so we can hold charter schools accountable? More freedom in their spending shouldn't mean less accountability for how the money is spent. (We need information on both their results and on what they are actually spending per student.)
PS. tigermike, try using a calculator please. 50k per driver, 56k per fire tech, 64k per custodial super, 60k on custodial asst.s
These are not exactly extravagant wages. Outsourcing them probably isn't going to save us. It's probably going to cost us MORE.
tigermike: Do you think DESERT LANDSCAPING with drought tolerant trees and shrubs but NO LAWNS might help? Save water and upkeep? Be wary of the "books". Who cares about how many pennies per student. What are the real numbers and why is that POS needed? Note that 90% goes to teachers--much more than other districts pay. Is this more hype for more bond issues?
General fund = DSA. Where is the LSST -- the chunk out of sales tax that goes to LOCAL SCHOOL SUPPORT tax? What about all the bond money? Where are the real books? (p.s. I'm a certified accountant, enrolled agent, financial investigator.)
"50k per driver, 56k per fire tech, 64k per custodial super, 60k on custodial asst.s
These are not exactly extravagant wages. Outsourcing them probably isn't going to save us. It's probably going to cost us MORE."
That's more than I make as a teacher with a Masters degree from UNLV in Secondary Mathematics with 7 years in the district (step 5 because of step freezes) (46k). With the exception of MAYBE the fire technician, what exactly are the qualifications for THOSE jobs? Oh right.
The final budget is your plan on what you are going to spend. What most people are interested in is how close to your plan are you? The fiscal year is about half over. Have you expended approximately half of your proposed budget.
The sad truth is that if you look at the pay for the maintenance and support staff, not counting benefits because this budget doesn't combine them, it is more than a teachers pay. A teacher with 5 years experience and a bachelors degree tops out at $40,486 without benefits. A teacher with a masters degree and 9 years tops out at $51,025 without benefits. I didn't include benefits because the CCSD Open book site only lists salaries without benefits included.
This is a link to the current CCSD Teacher's salary schedule.
http://ccsd.net/employees/resources/pdf/...
" Sounds like something that is long overdue."
It takes a long time for the books to finish cooking.
There are NO EXPENDITURES show in this web site. All they show is the budgeted amounts. You have NO IDEA what they have spent.
Round numbers: 17,000 teachers. Top of the pay scale, INCLUDING benefits $90,000 = 1.5 billion dollars. That's 75% of 2 billion dollars, not 90%.
Now keep in mind, no where near all of the teachers are at the top of the pay scale AND no where near all of the 17,000 "teachers" are in classrooms.
The CCSD is lying to the public once again. And this is just the GENERAL FUND.
"Teacher, support staff and administrator salaries and benefits constitute about $26 of the $45 per student per day expenditure."
If this statement is true, how on Earth do teacher salaries and benefits add up to 90% of the per pupil spending? According to this quote, ALL these salaries, ADMINISTRATORS AND SUPPORT STAFF included, account for around 58% of per pupil spending.
As LVSun has reported CCSD teachers AVERAGE $74K in compensation and top out about $96K and they want more and more money..
For this story, we are comparing the base salary as shown in the Open Book website, and the base pay of teachers. Benefits are shown as separate line items and can't be used.
Roslenda, please provide a link to your claim that teachers average 74K and top out at 96K. You have been saying that for over a year, and have yet to provide the link to support your claim.
According to the current pay scale, for a teacher to reach 74K in salary and benefits, requires a teacher to have 16 hours above a master's degree and be on step 9 of the salary schedule. To reach 94K, a teacher would have to have a PHD and be on step 13 of the salary schedule.
This is a link to the current salary schedule. This schedule also include benefits.
http://ccsd.net/employees/resources/pdf/...
@Roslenda....if you believe that $26 of $45 is 90%, it becomes clear to me why you have difficulty contributing meaningful commentary. If you truly are "a certified public accountant, enrolled agent and financial investigator", then those clients who retained your services are in serious trouble. I will concede, however, that Takahasi [or his editor] mangled those two explanatory sentences.
The article states that CCSD has 1 administrator for every 341 students. Using an enrollment figure of 305,000 students that comes out to approximately 900 administrators.
I then went through the department budget information, and counted the number of people whose salary category is Admin. The three categories are support, licensed (teachers), and Admin. There are just over 1100 people who get paid with a category of Admin. Depending on which number you use, the ratio of administrators to teachers varies between 1 administrator to 19 teachers or 1 administrator to 15 teachers. Just as a point of information, the teacher to student ratio is approximately 1 to 18.
Which is it? How does CCSD classify an administrator? Is an administrator only those people who are in schools, or do coordinators, directors, and academic managers count as well?
All this "transparency" shows is the plan or budget for CCSD. It doesn't show the expenditures in the various categories at all. Transparency is NOT giving out the budget. Transparency is how you are spending the money, and how close the expenditures match your budget.
wharfrat: Just what gratification do you get from being pompous and condescending? You admit there are inconsistencies in the numbers reported but you don't like my noting that???
Tanker: Tis why we need the full set of books, including ALL the revenue and all the expenditures. What happens to the federal funding? LSST / Sales tax? Bond revenue? The released books, alleging DSA only, can show "allocated" expenses or any part of an actual expense without showing all the costs--unless we get the full set of books. And perhaps one other thing we can agree on is that there are TOO MANY ADMINISTRATORS.