Sunday, May 18, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDUCATION CUTS: Top-Heavy Criticism

Amid budget woes, school district administrators favorite scapegoats for public, legislators

The Clark County School District's top administrators meet every Tuesday morning with Superintendent Carlos Garcia, left. The meetings are used as forums to discuss a spectrum of educational issues, from what to cut to balance the budget to pending legal actions. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Designer Megan Iudice works on a new Web site for the Clark County School District's division of Curriculum and Professional Development. Assistant Superintendent Martha Tittle, right, said the Web site, when launched, will allow parents and the public to access details of curriculum and instruction programs. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Click on the image for an enlargement. Southeast Region Superintendent Edward Goldman meets with the student leadership class at Coronado High School to discuss the district's budget crisis and other issues related to student life. Goldman regularly meets with student and parent groups. Photo by Clint Karlsen. The Clark County School District's new Curriculum and Professional Development Center, at 3950 S. Pecos Road, has been a lightning rod for criticism since it opened in December. The district acquired the office building, near Flamingo Road, to replace a downtown property that was traded to the city of Las Vegas. In the swap, the district obtained a site used in the reconstruction of Sunrise Acres Elementary School. Photo by K.M. Cannon. The planning team for Frias Elementary School, which will open in August, has been using the conference rooms at the district's Curriculum and Professional Development Center as a meeting site until the building is ready for occupation. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Library Services Coordinator Stanley Fuke works in the district's curriculum library in the new Curriculum and Professional Development Center. The library is a resource for teachers and school administrators who might need information on teaching strategies for various subject areas or how to plan lessons for students with specific learning disabilities. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Click on the image for an enlargement.

A Clark County School District administrator visits a student leadership class at Coronado High School and is asked for an update on the district's latest budget crisis.

"Have you thought about cutting back the bureaucracy?" the student body president queries.

Superintendent Carlos Garcia schedules a series of community forums to gather public input on district budget priorities. Parents, district employees and students are asked what should be slashed if the state cannot provide additional funding for public education.

The walkaway favorite category for reduction: central administrative costs.

For years, the nation's sixth-largest public school system has dealt with fiscal uncertainty while managing explosive enrollment growth. But after cutting about $90 million in expenses over the past two years, the Clark County School Board is prepared to replace its scalpel with a machete.

Earlier this month, board members reluctantly approved a tentative budget for 2003-04 with more than $111 million in reductions. They will meet again Wednesday to hold a public hearing on the proposed best- and worst-case budgets, with the latter assuming the district will receive no increase in funding from the state.

The reduced budget hacks at everything, from class sizes to bus service, from arts and sports to alternative education programs, and includes a 10 percent reduction in central administration and support staffing.

Board members, district officials and state lawmakers say the entire list of cuts almost certainly won't be enacted. The Legislature, which by law must adjourn its 2003 session on June 2, has two weeks and a day to resolve several proposals for record tax increases. Should lawmakers significantly boost taxes, much of that new revenue is headed to the Las Vegas Valley's crowded public schools.

But the dangled carrot promising increased tax revenues comes with cries for responsible spending from lawmakers and the public. Critics are clamoring for every dollar of new funding to be directed to classrooms.

As the community looks for something to offer up on the altar of fiscal accountability, the top layer of management at the Clark County School District appears to be the favorite fatted calf.

NEVADA COSTS LOW

Carole Vilardo is president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, a group that lobbies for responsible government at a reasonable price. Although Vilardo has been a visible critic of some proposed new taxes and tax increases, she has been a supporter of legislation that would provide school districts with flexibility in the way class-size reduction dollars are spent. At the same time, she is not among those decrying administrative staffing levels in public education.

She said the taxpayers association hasn't seen a need to take a formal position on the issue.

"Comparative statistics from the U.S. Department of Education shows (Nevada) with relatively low administrative staffing levels," Vilardo said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's governments division and the National Center for Education Statistics, Nevada ranks 41st among the 50 states in terms of general administration spending, about $94 per student. That's below the national average of $146 per student. The state ranks 24th in the nation for on-site school administration spending -- principals, assistant principals and deans -- at $415 per student. The national average is $409. District officials attribute that ranking to the large enrollments in many Clark County schools.

Clark County accounts for roughly two-thirds of the state's public school enrollment, and area high schools usually have one principal, two or three assistant principals and two or more deans. Centennial High School in the northwest Las Vegas Valley, the state's biggest public school, has one principal, five assistant principals and three deans for its 3,742 students. That's about one on-site administrator for every 416 students.

Vilardo cautioned that staffing comparisons between public school systems and states must be taken with a grain of salt. There is no guarantee that the information compares similar data. Many districts, even within the same state, categorize jobs differently, she said. For example, while the Clark County School District classifies deans as administrators, the Washoe County School District counts them as teachers.

REORGANIZATION CRITICIZED

In March, state lawmakers proposed legislation to cap the number of public school administrators based on student enrollment. It called for one administrator for every 352 students in Clark County. The district has 948 administrators overseeing the education of 255,238 students, or one administrator for every 269 students. The ratio would put the district about 223 administrators over the limit.

Although Assembly Bill 506 died, Assemblyman Wendell Williams predicted the idea would be resurrected before the end of the session as an amendment to a different bill. The impetus for the cap is the belief that administrative staffing is growing out of control.

"I think the administration in Clark County is top-heavy," said Williams, who leads the Assembly Education Committee. "The new proposal coming out is one way to start dealing with it."

Williams, D-Las Vegas, isn't alone in his assessment. At times, even district administrators have been critical of the creation of new positions.

When Garcia launched a district reorganization in 2001, a subsequent survey conducted by the Clark County Association of School Administrators showed nearly half of all respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the changes had improved efficiency.

In October, when most of the major changes had been made, documents submitted to the School Board and district memos showed 56 jobs were eliminated in the reorganization and 68 jobs were created in dividing the district into five regions. The reorganization created positions that paid certain administrators more than other administrators with similar jobs.

The bargaining unit that represents district administrators had only a cursory role in the process. The resulting conflict between Garcia and the union led to an ongoing reclassification study. If accepted by the School Board later this year, the study will provide a uniform method of screening and setting salaries for proposed administrative positions and prevent the arbitrary creation of new jobs.

But Garcia said the perception of excessive administration isn't sustained by workday reality in district trenches.

"Is there a chance that someone out there isn't doing their job?" Garcia said. "There might be that chance. But we've cut $90 million out of the budget in the last two years. When you look at the infrastructure of the school district, it's more likely that we have administrators who are trying to do two and three jobs at a time. We can cut back on staffing, but the workload doesn't go away."

That workload includes everything from hiring to payroll; from student testing to ensuring compliance with state and federal mandates; from building new schools to providing employee and student support for existing schools.

Some administrative roles are clear-cut. In Human Resources, one administrator's full-time job is oversight of all teacher staffing for 172 elementary schools. Other titles, such as curriculum director, region superintendent, or program coordinator, leave the public without a clear picture of what the job entails. Other administrative positions, such as the 21 full-time equivalencies in school construction, are paid with bond money, not money from the operating budget, meaning their salaries don't contribute to the general fund squeeze caused by potential cuts.

14 PAID $100,000 OR MORE

But public criticism of the Clark County School District centers mainly on central administrative staffing, not school-based administration.

"I think part of it's just human nature," said Green Valley High School Principal Betty Sabo. "When I was a teacher, I didn't know what a dean did. Then I became a dean and I wondered what assistant principals did; deans did all the work. Then I became an assistant, and I couldn't tell you what the principal did. When you work as a district administrator, people don't know what you're doing. It's out of sight, out of mind."

Vilardo said the public's view of administrators is shaped in part by the salaries many are paid. They make much more than what a new teacher can expect to make, she said, and they are not the ones in the classrooms teaching children.

"You hear it across the country," Vilardo said. "Administrators who aren't on the front line make more than teachers who are directly responsible for the education of kids."

But Garcia said district administrators are not getting rich at the public trough. According to a Review-Journal survey, Garcia was the only district administrator among the 100 highest paid public employees in Nevada in 2002, ranking 46th behind university professors, Clark County fire department captains and staff physicians at University Medical Center. Garcia was paid $202,000 in 2002. His annual salary remains at that level, although the budget for fiscal year 2003 shows Garcia's salary at $229,012. The additional money is set aside for any bonus or salary increase the School Board might award Garcia. In the past, Garcia has turned down the bonuses. If not used, the money remains in the general fund to cover other expenses.

Only 14 school district administrators were paid a salary of at least $100,000 in 2002. That year, 132 employees of the Metropolitan Police Department were paid at least that much.

According to figures provided by the district's budget and finance department, the average classroom teacher salary in Clark County is $41,223, not including benefits and retirement contributions. A first-year teacher with a four-year degree is paid a base salary of $27,384.

In contrast, assistant principals average a salary of about $75,521. Principals average $81,071, while central administrators average $80,654 in annual salary.

Garcia said people don't realize that central administration accounts for about 3 percent of the district's operating budget. Instructional costs, including teacher salary, security, library expenses, transportation and the principals' offices, account for 84 percent of the operating budget.

If all central administrative salaries -- about $15.5 million -- were eliminated from the general fund, Garcia said the district still wouldn't be able to put a substantial dent in the $110 million shortfall it will face if state funding remains flat next year.

"Public education has become everybody's favorite scapegoat," Garcia said. "But look at the data. We get criticized, but the facts don't support the arguments."

Part of what feeds the public's image of a top-heavy administration is the blurring line between teachers and administrators. Of the district's 14,592 licensed personnel, 12,967 are classroom teachers. Most regular classroom teachers -- 8,478 full-time equivalencies -- are paid through the district's general fund. Teachers in specialty areas, including art, music and physical education, total 3,661 full-time equivalencies in the general fund. Other teacher salaries are paid through state and federal grants.

However, 501 teachers do not have classroom assignments. Those positions include literacy specialists, learning strategists and educational computing strategists. Some are teachers on special assignment to different district departments. Some are learning strategists who work with teachers to improve their skills. Others are technology specialists at area schools. Because they don't run a classroom, they can be incorrectly viewed as administrators.

And 1,124 licensed personnel aren't teachers at all. Those positions, including librarians, nurses, psychologists, counselors and social workers, outnumber administrators.

"It's a common initial perception," said Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "Everyone not in the classroom must be an administrator. Resource teachers, literacy teachers, all these teachers are specialists that most of the public think of as administrators."

The public also may not realize that 35 percent of the district's work force is support staff. Secretaries, bus drivers, food service workers, teachers aides, computer technicians and custodians are some of the 8,425 personnel that support teachers, students and administrators.

Only 54 percent of the district's employees are classroom teachers.

PARENTS WANT PROOF

If Clark County schools wanted to project an image of lean efficiency, several people said their case wasn't helped by the purchase of a $4.9 million building near Pecos and Flamingo roads. The district acquired the building last year after a land swap with the city of Las Vegas forced it to relocate staff housed in its former North Ninth Street facility. The district also was able to relocate its English Language Learners program, formerly housed in leased space on East Charleston Boulevard.

The 49,000-square-foot Curriculum and Professional Development Center includes training space and conference rooms for teachers and personnel, the district's Division of Curriculum and Professional Development and the English Language Learner Division. About 158 employees work out of the new building, including 37 administrators.

The new facility caused a furor among district critics, and Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, asked the Legislative Counsel Bureau to prepare a report on the purchase at the request of several constituents concerned that it was a waste of taxpayer money. To Cegavske, the building embodies the most common complaint she gets from parents.

"I do have concerns about the layers of administration that parents have to work through in the district," Cegavske said. "That's the number one concern I hear from parents who are trying to get resolution on an issue. They start with the teacher, work through administrators at the school, then they're referred to the region. They have to go through the region administrators before they get to someone in central administration. That's why parents are so frustrated. I think there are more administrators than the district needs. But then, I'm not the one in the trenches."

Garcia's creation of five regions within the district has drawn fire as a move that created a new level of bureaucracy. But supporters contend it actually makes the district more responsive.

Addressing parent concerns is a priority in the Southeast Region, said Region Superintendent Edward Goldman, who tracks all the calls and e-mails he receives.

Goldman said he works every day to dispel the image of detached administrators. Each morning, Goldman visits schools in his region, where he observes random classrooms. He shares his observations with the school principal, and if he notices problems, such as students sleeping in class or not on task, he checks back to see how the issue has been addressed.

Goldman supervises two assistant superintendents who oversee school operations in the region. Part of the job includes setting instructional priorities, responding to principal concerns and staffing needs and handling new school openings. He also deals personally with every student in his region who is recommended for suspension or expulsion.

"I don't think people realize exactly what it is we do," Goldman said. "If they don't see us, they assume we must not be doing anything. That's absolutely not true. My region has 60 schools and is big enough to be one of the 100 largest districts in the country."

But parents and community leaders want proof of effective district leadership. Marzette Lewis, whose children, foster children and grandchildren have attended public schools, said if administrators were doing their jobs well, there wouldn't be 30 schools on the state's inadequate list. Lewis, a community activist who pushes for better schools in the West Las Vegas area, believes overstaffing at the top has a long history in the district.

"We're overflowing with superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors and coordinators," Lewis said. "There are so many of them that they don't even know what the other person is doing. In the past, the superintendents have just given away titles."

Agustin Orci, the district's deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction, called Lewis' assertion ridiculous.

Curriculum and Professional Development has drawn fire for having 11 directors, according to an organizational chart published at the beginning of the year. Orci defended the positions, saying one person oversees one or more major areas, such as guidance and counseling, mathematics and science, or literacy and technology. Orci also said that while critics single out director positions that have no other administrators reporting to them on the organizational chart, those positions have been streamlined this year. Reorganization is an ongoing process, he said.

"I can tell you without batting an eye that administrators in this district perform two or three different jobs," Orci said. "As for student achievement, we'll eliminate our inadequate schools when all students come to us prepared to learn. Now, we have students coming to our schools who can't speak English and who may not even be able to write their names on the top of a paper."