Study outlines challenges for CCSD reorganization

An analysis of the Clark County School District’s massive reorganization effort found the lack of a clear decentralization process and the need for a weighted student funding formula and better technology are among the biggest challenges facing the overhaul.

The TSC² Group that wrote the report also cited a lack of cooperation from certain school board trustees in completing its analysis.

“I should say that our work was stalled for two weeks by some of the Clark County School District trustees,” said TSC² Group President Tom Skancke. “It was unfortunate as that caused the team to really be unable to get our work done.”

The 95-page report, presented to the Community Implementation Council overseeing the reorganization, highlights the need to establish a weighted student funding formula.

That formula would establish dollar amounts for students who fall into one of four special categories: students in special education; gifted and talented students; students who qualify for free and reduced lunches; and English language learners.

The consulting group also stresses the need for financial technology to track expenditures in a new school-empowerment model that will give less power to central administration.

The district processes about 18,000 human-resource forms by hand, the report found.

“With the appropriate resources and priorities for spending these resources, the district could obtain technology automating these processes, thereby freeing administrators to reallocate time to analysis and decision-making more directly related to student achievement,” the report states.

The group also found that Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky spends much of his time throughout the day responding to emails and texts from staff and trustees, Skancke said.

He said that micromanaging the superintendent is not in the trustees’ best interest.

“If the trustees wanted to be the superintendent, then they should apply for the job,” he said. “Otherwise, they should let him do his job and focus on achievement and performance and not micro-managing the district.”

Another major challenge will be determining which services should be moved from the responsibility of central administration to schools, the report found.

The reorganization, to be rolled out next school year, still presents a number of concerns, according to trustees. The board sent a petition to the state Board of Education last month, asking the department to reopen the law’s regulations to fix a number of issues the law fails to address.

Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at 702-383-4630 or apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.