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Hafen calls for more control over public schools in Henderson

Mayor Andy Hafen wants Henderson to have more control over the education of the city's students.

"We support education, and we want to have more input into how our kids are taught, and how our schools are run," Hafen said at his annual State of the City address at the Green Valley Ranch Resort Wednesday.

During the 2015 Legislature, lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 394 which requires the Clark County School District to be split into an unspecified number of precincts by the 2018-19 school year. Committees chaired by state Sens. Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, and Becky Harris, R-Las Vegas, are gathering information to determine how best to break up the nation's fifth largest school district.

"It is our goal to help see the creation of the first Henderson precinct," Hafen said. "We will continue to fight to make sure Henderson parents have a voice in the education of their children."

For Henderson, which is the state's second most populous city, creating its own school precinct would be a small victory in a decades-long fight to control the schools within its borders.

The City Council voted to support a school district breakup in 1997, the Las Vegas Sun reported at the time. But that and other breakup pushes died partly because of concerns smaller districts would exacerbate racial and economic disparities within Clark County.

Better control over public schools isn't the only thing Hafen hopes to see for the city.

He said the city is planning to build a new fire station inside the master-planned community of Inspirada.

It will be the first fire station built in Henderson in over a dozen years. The city's population has grown by over 75,000 since the last one was built in 2002, Hafen said.

"Given our population increases and ongoing capital needs, we need to continue our efforts and find the needed resources to sufficiently equip and operate that station," Hafen added.

Hafen also noted the influx of businesses to the city's Water Street District, with the Lovelady Brewery, Makers and Finders coffee and a new architecture office all breaking ground in the area in 2015.

But in Henderson, the construction of the 170-acre Union Village, and with it the new 245,000-square-foot Henderson Hospital, overshadow the smaller projects. The first phase of that project, which includes the hospital and medical center, is expected to be finished by fall, he said.

"I can't tell you how much we're looking forward to the grand opening this fall," Hafen said.

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead

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