District leans on outside programs

Flying Monkeys don't come cheap. They cost the Clark County School District $170,000 in the last school year.

The school district also spent $67,740 on Mad Science, $38,600 on mariachi music and $4,914 on Little Pastry Chefs.

These are just a few of the consulting firms and outside contractors whose total bill came to $12.5 million for 2008-09.

More than 90 percent of the costs were covered with federal funds, including the Flying Monkeys, who swooped down on schools serving mostly low-income students.

The academic consultants' name is a playful reference to the wicked witch's helpers in the "Wizard of Oz." They specialize in teacher training.

Mad Science, another program for low-income schools that was paid with federal funds, uses bubbling potions, rocket launches and other fun experiments to engage students' interest in science.

The School Board in October asked for a breakdown of consultant fees after it was asked to approve $77,000 for two out-of-state consultants. Both were paid with local funds. District officials justified the expense as necessary to boost performance at under-achieving schools.

The guidelines of No Child Left Behind, the federal school accountability law, are compelling the school district to hire more contractors and specialists, officials said.

Taxpayers will get some indication of the effectiveness of such programs on July 23, when the school district will release its No Child Left Behind performance data for the 2008-09 school year.

As part of the federal stimulus package, the school district will receive more than $57 million in new federal aid for schools in poverty areas and an additional $49 million plus for special-education programs. The one-time funds are expected to arrive in August.

But even if the school district is using federal funds to live up to federal mandates, School Board members have encouraged staff to be judicious about expenditures and hold vendors accountable.

"Regardless of it being federal money or general fund money, it's still taxpayer money," School Board President Terri Janison said.

Because it's federal stimulus money, the school system is facing conflicting goals. It's supposed to spend the money quickly to stimulate the economy, but haste cannot make waste, either, said Charlene Green, the deputy superintendent of support services.

The school district will make a report of its stimulus expenditures for the federal government, officials said.

"We have to be very transparent," Green said.

The one-time expenditures are supposed to lead to more student achievement, but officials want to avoid falling over the "funding cliff," starting new programs they will not be able to continue.

So school officials plan to spend the money on "proven programs." By investing in more training and professional development, for instance, district officials hope to increase the quality of instruction and reduce teacher turnover.

School officials plan to make some one-time technology purchases such as "smart boards" for students in wheelchairs. Smart boards are digitized blackboards.

Judging by the consultants' report for the past year, the school district depends on federal money for many services, such as providing Arabic, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean language translators. It also hired some math consultants to help boost flagging test scores and improve instruction.

The school district got a lot of criticism in 2004 for receiving a federal earmark of $25,000 for mariachi music instruction. According to the consultant's report for the past school year, expenses for mariachi training for music teachers and a mariachi conference with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were paid with local funds.

The school district also paid state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson, $10,500, with local funds, for professional development.

Woodhouse, a retired teacher from the school district, said she helped implement a science curriculum. She was paid from the school district's general fund, which is supported through local and state taxes.

As a state senator, Woodhouse voted on the education budget for Nevada but said her consulting fee did not pose a conflict of interest. "One had nothing to do with the other," Woodhouse said.

In hard economic times, the school district is turning to private donations for innovation.

As an empowerment school, Bonner Elementary School got additional funding from the Lincy Foundation, a private philanthropy, so it could bring a professional baker to campus twice a week.

Students at the school, near Hualapai Way and Town Center Drive in Summerlin, got demonstrations and hands-on instruction on making desserts from Little Pastry Chefs, a local bakery.

Students learned how to follow a recipe and make measurements, which reinforced lessons in literacy and math, but the program had other practical benefits, too.

"Unfortunately, a lot of kids don't have the opportunity to learn how to cook at home anymore," said Alecia Kremidas, the owner of Little Pastry Chefs. "This gives them a little more independence."

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