Officials with the Clark County School District overestimated its enrollment by more than 4,000 students, and as a result the district will not be receiving $17 million in anticipated state funds.
The number of students in the district was tracked Friday and totaled 291,505 pupils, fewer than the 295,615 students the district expected for the current school year. The shortfall will cost the district its state per-pupil allocation of about $4,300 per student in grades one through 12, and about $2,580 for students in kindergarten.
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The enrollment figures are still being reviewed and subject to minor alterations.
Walt Rulffes, the district's chief financial officer and a co-interim superintendent, said no academic programs will be cut as a result of the shortfall, but the district will have to "tighten its belt" on filling some administrative vacancies, monitor its travel expenses and might not be able to purchase some replacement computers that are needed.
Rulffes said the smaller number of students will also result in the district not having to hire about 175 teachers, which will soften the financial impact the district will face.
"In the big picture, we'll be able to absorb revenue loss because we won't have the expense of hiring teachers," Rulffes said.
The district is currently short about 269 teachers in specialized areas such as secondary math and special education. The 175 instructors that won't be hired into the district are teachers in areas that are not considered high needs.
Rulffes said the district usually has been able to predict its annual enrollment to within 1,000 students, but was off during the 2001-02 school year by about 3,200 pupils. Officials blamed that miscalculation on the ripple effects caused by the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Rulffes said an exact cause for this year's overestimate is not known, but early indications are that growth in Clark County might be slowing down, possibly because of the high cost of housing.
He said district officials will need to determine if the growth rate in the district is indeed slowing, because it could affect the number of schools needed to be built under the district's current and future bond programs.
"We have to be careful because this could be an anomaly," Rulffes said. "If it isn't, it could have long-term effects on our building program."
The Clark County School District remains one of the largest and fastest-growing school systems in the nation. During the past 10 years, it has grown by an average of more than 12,000 students per year.
However, the district this year grew by 10, 671 students over the previous year.
In 1998, voters approved a $3.5 billion bond program to build 88 new schools until 2008.
District officials have not made any decisions on when to bring a new bond measure to voters, although likely dates are 2006 or 2008.
The current bond is expected to produce more schools than initially projected: 90 schools with an additional 10 older schools being replaced. Twenty-six schools from the current bond program have yet to open, with some of those already in construction.
Paul Gerner, the district's associate superintendent of facilities, said the district is projecting that 23 new schools have to be built by the 2009-10 school year to keep up with the district's growth.
Gerner said that although the current bond goes until 2008, the district will still be generating funds to build the additional schools for the first few years after the measure expires.
The district is expected to be short about eight elementary schools during that time, which is why Gerner said the district must determine more accurate enrollment figures.
"The timeline for 2008 is immediate because it takes that long to site and build schools," Gerner said.
