$7 billion bond vote will wait

Clark County School Board members said Wednesday they plan to pull a $7 billion bond question for new construction off the November ballot, citing sluggish enrollment growth, the economic downturn and reductions in state funding.

Clark County School District officials said they don't want to ask the public for more money when the need is not immediate. They also want to take advantage of the lull in growth to better plan for the coming decade.

The district would bring the issue back to voters in 2010.

"This is a fiscal integrity issue," Superintendent Walt Rulffes said Wednesday.

School Board members support the delay but postponed a formal vote on it until Friday to comply with the state's open meeting law. The topic of the bond was not posted before Wednesday's board meeting.

The deadline for removing items from the November ballot is July 21.

District officials do plan to continue the current building program for the next two years, which includes 23 new schools, renovations and modernization. Those projects will be financed with about $1 billion in capital funding generated by the 1998 bond program, hotel room taxes and real estate transfer taxes.

Taxpayers should not expect a property tax break because of the postponement of the bond question, though. Debts from the 1998 construction program will not be retired sooner than the next three to four years. The school property tax rate is expected to remain at $0.5534 per $100 of assessed value.

The proposed $7 billion bond would have kept that tax rate locked in for another decade.

That money would have been combined with hotel room tax revenues and real estate transfer taxes to generate a total of $9.5 billion to pay for school construction.

The 2008 bond question was the district's second attempt at a 10-year construction program, which would have resulted in 73 new schools.

But signs of slowed growth were evident in May, when district officials announced that enrollment increases were projected at just 1.5 percent, a four-year low.

Enrollment is expected to spike again. Rulffes said the district was simply "recalibrating" the timing of its bond proposal.

School Board President Mary Beth Scow predicted the bond issue would have passed in November, but said it makes more sense to wait.

"We strongly feel we need to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money," Scow said.

Trustees Carolyn Edwards and Sheila Moulton said they felt "angst" over the $7 billion bond given the weak economy. But they noted that delaying the bond issue was also unusual since the district, historically one of the fastest-growing in the nation, is accustomed to rapid influxes of students.

Normally, the district experiences a 5 percent increase in enrollment every year. This coming school year, growth is anticipated at 1 percent to 2 percent. Officials said Wednesday the district could experience flat or negative growth for the first time since 1984-85.

One indication of dropping enrollment is the exodus of 4,000 students during the last school year, the biggest decline ever, officials said. The district ended 2007-08 with 304,502 students.

Because of the enrollment uncertainties, the district is staffing at 98 percent of its anticipated need to avoid having to lay off teachers later. Officials are urging parents to register their children as soon as possible so schools can get a better handle on enrollment projections.

In another sign of a changing reality, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Weiler said the district could eliminate the need for 12 new schools if it simply raised its class sizes by one student, an option that was immediately opposed by School Board members.

"We're already at the top of where we should be," Edwards said.

Crowding could ease in the next two years. Six new schools will open in August. Under the current school construction schedule, the district plans to add capacity for 16,000 new students over the next two years. Enrollment may only grow by 10,000 students during that time, Rulffes said.

Trustee Ruth Johnson said she wants public input on the implications of slowed growth at the next regular board meeting on July 24.

District administrators see the slowed growth as a temporary blip. Because of new resort and casino projects expected to open in the near future, they anticipate healthy enrollment in the next decade.

Using projected employment numbers from the new casinos, school officials anticipate the district could grow to almost a half million students by 2021.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686.