Clark County School District opens its books, highlights expected fiscal hardship

$36.54.

That's what the nation's fifth-largest school district spends per student daily, and it's a third less than what other behemoth districts spend, Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones said Monday in his State of the District address, in which he unveiled a measure to make the district one of the most transparent in the country.

The spending factoid is one of many revealed in the district's new interactive tool, Open Book, that went live Monday after six months of work. It allows anyone to delve into the spending of the district without leafing through dictionary-thick budgets.

Simply visit www.ccsd.net/district/open-book.

"See for yourself where we spend your dollars," Jones said.

In November, the district failed 2-1 to win voter approval for a $669 million property tax increase for school building improvements.

"I heard the message loud and clear," Jones said. "You didn't trust that we'd spend the money wisely."

The third-year superintendent defended district spending and argued that Open Book will show it's not excessive.

The district is often accused of having an abundance of administrators while teacher cuts have resulted in the largest average class size, 35 students, among the nation's largest districts.

But Open Book shows the district with 341 students per administrator, which the district said is the nation's lowest rate.

Jones also lauded a new, self-created way to rank district schools, calling the five-star rating system an "honest" way of showing how schools stack up.

But the system "artificially inflates the amount of schools who are rated highly" by allowing improving schools to earn more stars in 2011-12 while not deducting stars from schools that did worse, former School Board member Rene Cantu has said.

When the district unveiled this year's ratings, it said 91 schools earned the highest possible five stars while none of Clark County's 357 public schools earned the bottom ranking of one star.

If district officials hadn't enacted the hold harmless rule for schools where performance fell, 72 schools, not 91, would have earned five stars in 2011-12. Six low-performing schools would have gotten one star.

District schools did make gains last year in the graduation rate and other factors. Sustaining that will be challenging, Jones said.

"We're facing another difficult budget," he predicted, noting that the
$600 million in cuts over the past five years probably won't be the end.

Lawmakers have said education funding may increase by 2 percent next year, but district Chief Financial Officer Jeff Weiler said that would just help cover expected cost increases.

The state has said employees will need to contribute more to the public retirement system, and, under an order from an arbitrator, annual pay raises must be paid to the district's more than 17,000 teachers. Negotiated pay freezes for 18,000 support staff, administrators and school police will end at the end of this school year.

Last year, the district eliminated 1,000 positions to cover the cost of $60 million in teacher raises upheld in arbitration. But class sizes can't be increased again to bear the burden of escalating costs, Jones warned.

He wouldn't say where cuts would be made, if they are necessary.

What will be needed will become clearer after Gov. Brian Sandoval's State of the State address on Wednesday, in which he said education funding would be emphasized.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at
tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.