School construction

In November, Clark County voters will decide whether to raise property taxes to renovate and rebuild several public schools. But before voters can make that decision, they need to know how the money will be spent.

When the Clark County School District began the process of placing the issue before voters, initially it wouldn't disclose its construction priorities. How could the system declare it had $720 million worth of capital needs without having an itemized list of projects and cost estimates?

Over the past few months, the school district gradually has released its plans. And on Tuesday, Superintendent Dwight Jones revealed the district's biggest and most urgent projects: the replacement of 57-year-old Lincoln Edison Elementary in North Las Vegas and 49-year-old Bell Elementary, near Sahara Avenue and Interstate 15.

The schools are in bad shape. If voters approve the ballot question, which would increase the property tax bill of a $100,000 house by $74.20 per year, the replacement schools will be the first projects in the queue, at a total cost of about $40 million. (The tax increase will not fund debt - property owners are still paying off the district's 1998 construction bond - but instead will pay for projects as they go.)

Boulder City High School also would be replaced, eventually. West Prep Academy would be renovated. Several schools would get new air conditioning and electrical upgrades.

A much tougher sell to voters: building two new elementary schools amid declining enrollment. Where might those schools be built to relieve crowding? And if enrollment keeps falling, might that part of the plan be scrapped? We don't know yet, but we should. Keep the information coming.

Only then will voters be able to decide whether the district's plan would make productive use of new tax dollars.