Crowded schools

Voters were told there would be unpopular consequences if they rejected Clark County Question 2, a property tax increase to fund urgently needed school construction. The public voted no - overwhelmingly - so families in the southwest valley are first in line to deal with those consequences.

The region's elementary schools are far over capacity and still growing. And there's no money to build new schools.

On Wednesday, after considering parent input, the School Board decided to manage the crowding through a combination of attendance zone boundary changes, additional portable classrooms and, as a last option, returning to year-round schedules. Southwest valley elementary schools will still be over capacity next year, but the crowding will be more evenly spread through more schools.

"What we're doing today is a short-term fix" for five years, Superintendent Dwight Jones said.

Indeed, with enrollment growing again, the school district will have to come up with a new plan to manage the crowding in the years beyond, be it a broader, valleywide rezoning or another ballot request for construction funding.

The Legislature could help by getting rid of the prevailing wage law, which adds millions of dollars to the cost of new schools and public works projects, or perhaps coming up with some one-shot money for one new campus.

For now, everyone will have to make do with a bad situation of their own making.