Calendar shift to be revisited

Clark County School Board member Chris Garvey is reopening debate on the Clark County School District's enrollment policy, seeking changes that could shift the majority of year-round schools to nine-month schedules.

The move, proposed to help close a shortfall of $123 million in next year's budget, is drawing criticism for being "premature" and placing an unfair burden on year-round school employees who would lose workdays on top of whatever salary cuts might be made to balance the district's budget.

Twenty-one of the district's 76 year-round elementary schools have been scheduled to revert to nine-month calendars next year because of declining enrollment. Garvey wants to alter policy to allow as many as 35 more year-round schools to do the same.

At a meeting Thursday, Garvey will ask the board to reconsider a 4-3 vote taken two weeks ago to keep the current enrollment policy in place. Garvey voted with School Board members Sheila Moulton, Linda Young and Larry Mason to do so.

In explaining her change of heart on Monday, Garvey said, "We've had a huge change (with a decline in enrollment). We don't want to flip-flop policy all over the place, but we have to be able to react to what's happening in our community."

Garvey did not detail the changes she seeks, but said her compromise would take into account the considerations of school principals and regional administrators. Changes in school calendars are currently based on a complex formula based on class sizes and at least two years of demographic patterns in a school zone.

Generally, a year-round school is allowed to revert to a regular schedule when its enrollment is within 8 percent of its nine-month enrollment capacity.

A voluntary survey done by the district found that 87 percent of respondents supported shifting year-round schools to nine-month schedules as a preferred budget cut.

But making that change before fully assessing the impacts would be "a knee-jerk reaction to the community who doesn't want to stay on year-round schedules," said Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees.

"I have talked to too many principals who said it's going to create hardships in terms of bathroom space, lunchroom space, parking space, playground space, traffic congestion, all of those kinds of things," Augspurger said. "In some schools, you're going to put 25 percent more kids in the building. That's the net effect of what's going to happen."

If the district's employee unions agree to concessions such as cuts in pay and unpaid furlough days, Augspurger added, then the hundreds of employees who work in year-round schools will face a second hit to their livelihood.

"How in good conscience do you go back to the same people who have already taken a big hit?" Augspurger asked.

Garvey thinks there can be a happy medium that would satisfy those who fear that change would be disruptive to both district students and staff.

"I'm really hopeful this is something everybody can live with," Garvey said. "It will help with the budget. It won't hurt those campuses where the environment would just not be right."

Putting all 76 year-round schools on nine-month schedules has been estimated as a $17.4 million savings for the district, which is struggling to close a $123 million gap brought on by state funding cuts and declining property tax revenue. Changing 21 year-round schools back to nine-month schedules is expected to save the district up to $5 million.

Many families dislike year-round school calendars because they impose on personal schedules and vacation plans, but the district has touted them as a cost-effective way to deal with crowded campuses. Year-round students attend school on a rotation and have different vacation schedules or "tracks."

Because every school is different, Garvey said she does not want to force change on campuses where it would not be practical.

"Yeah, we have some saying we could do it with an auxiliary lunchroom in a portable, but I don't want to see 7- and 8-year-olds going upstairs with lunch trays and see the wind flipping it out of their hands," she said. "It doesn't make sense."

Moulton believes the School Board might be in a better position on Thursday to consider changes than it was on March 26 when it cast the 4-3 vote to keep the current policy in place.

If the board on Wednesday adopts a tentative budget for the 2010-11 school year with a recommendation to increase class sizes by two students each in grades 1-3, Moulton believes the formula for school capacity would be expanded. She said the School Board would then have a new set of assumptions to guide school calendar changes. Moulton said she would be "open to a discussion."

School Board President Terri Janison said zoning changes wouldn't be necessary because she does not expect big changes in school enrollment.

Augspurger suggested the School Board look at other ways to cut costs.

"It just makes no sense to dismantle something that has worked so effectively," Augspurger said. "It has always been touted as a cost-efficient venture. Now, all of a sudden, we're going to use this as an opportunity to let all of it go."

Augspurger said changing the enrollment policy could be "foolish" since the Legislature will revisit the issue of class sizes in 2011. If the economy rebounds, public schools soon could be exceeding their nine-month capacities again.

"I think it's critical not to close those year-round schools," Augspurger said. "Number one, it's too premature. This topic only came up three weeks ago. We have not had enough study to determine if this is what we want to do or if it's even feasible."

The School Board is expected to approve a tentative new budget at a Wednesday workshop that begins at 2 p.m. in the theater at Chaparral High School, 3850 Annie Oakley Drive, near Flamingo Road and U.S. Highway 95.

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