Legislative success savored

Because of newly passed legislation, the Clark County School District will no longer have to submit architectural drawings to a public works board for review, saving the district as much as $100,000 in the construction cost of a building, school officials said.

Paul Gerner, the associate superintendent for facilities, said district officials overcame concerns about the need for additional state scrutiny by showing that the school district's in-house inspectors have high levels of certification.

In an interview with the Review-Journal, Gerner said the district's inspectors are like "having Einstein teach physics. I might have overstated it a little bit."

School officials hailed the building exemption as one of their few tangible victories from the 2009 Legislative session, which officials collectively summarized as "it could have been lot worse" during a school board workshop Wednesday.

Joyce Haldeman, the assistant superintendent for communications, said school lobbyists mostly played "defense" to protect existing programs amid the financial crisis.

Feared budget cuts were mitigated as school officials estimated that Gov. Jim Gibbons' original budget proposal would have increased the School District's funding reductions by an additional $30 million.

The district has already budgeted for $120 million in spending reductions for the coming school year.

The school district was also able to protect its designated tax revenues, which the Legislature could have diverted back to the state's general fund, noted Jeff Weiler, the district's chief financial officer.

Haldeman appreciated having a Democratic-controlled Legislature. She would have liked to have seen what the Democrats could have done for education if the economy had been better.

"The will was there," Haldeman said. "The funding was not."

In the spirit of bi-partisanship, Haldeman also was quick to praise to praise Republican lawmakers, especially Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, for killing some labor legislation, including the "Teacher's Bill of Rights."

Haldeman said the bill was too vague and difficult to implement. She interpreted one provision as mandating a 24-hour notice so a teacher could get legal representation before any meeting where professional complaints were to be heard.

One of school officials' bigger disappointments was the failure to pass an educational stabilization fund, which would have diverted any unspent educational funds to a rainy day account rather than allowing excess educational funding to help balance the state budget.

The bill was vetoed by the governor.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@ reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.