Revenue forecast eases crunch for Clark County School District

Increased class sizes, a 50 percent cut in the textbook budget and thousands of job cuts still loom in the Clark County School District's future, but officials for the state's largest school system probably won't have to plan for any additional cuts in fiscal year 2011-12.

The question of how to make up an outstanding $69 million hole in next year's budget was largely resolved when the state's Economic Forum on Monday forecast increased tax revenues, which Gov. Brian Sandoval plans to devote to education. Of the additional $274 million identified by the forum, the district anticipates getting $60 million a year for the next two years, said Jeff Weiler, the district's chief financial officer.

Weiler acknowledged his estimate of an additional $60 million is not official and somewhat "presumptuous" because the Legislature and the governor must still come together on the state's budget for the next two years. The $60 million represents a fraction of what the district needs. It's anticipating an overall funding shortfall of $407 million in its
$2.2 billion tentative budget for 2011-12.

District officials still expect to ask employee unions for pay and benefits cuts worth 8 percent and for a reduction in force of 1,800 jobs, Weiler said, but the cuts probably won't go any deeper than what already has been spelled out in the tentative budget approved last month by the Clark County School Board.

School Board members are scheduled to approve a budget May 18, but they probably will need to amend the spending plan later because the Legislature probably will not pass a state budget by then.

School Board President Carolyn Edwards said the addition of $60 million is "not bad news. It's more money, but it's not enough. I would caution people that this is not fixing our budget situation. It alleviates it slightly, but that's all."

Edwards said she appreciated that K-12 education would have to share any new revenues with higher education "because its budget is being cut as well."

Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees, said there are many financial questions remaining to be resolved, such as whether the district will be obligated to use $150 million in debt service for its operating budget as the governor has proposed.

Augspurger is hoping that education funding can be increased more.

"You can't fund education at this skeletal level," he said.

Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents district teachers, added that the additional $60 million a year is not a "magic bullet."

"We'll need additional help from the Legislature to fix the budget," he said.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@review
journal.com or 702-374-7917.