Rulffes outlines plans to use federal funding to restore school staffs

Superintendent Walt Rulffes plans to spend $54.2 million in new federal funding to fully staff schools and create "hundreds of additional jobs" for the Clark County School District, according to a memo released Tuesday.

The Education Jobs legislation allows school districts to spread the one-time funding over two years, but Rulffes said it is important to hire now and help stimulate the local economy.

"He who hoards public money stands to lose it," Rulffes added in a Tuesday e-mail.

The money is from a $10 billion federal Education Jobs Fund that is part of larger legislation President Barack Obama recently signed into law.

With the new school year starting Monday, the district's Human Resources Department is preparing to expedite the hiring of additional teachers and support staff, the superintendent said. Staffing assignments are not generally finalized until official enrollment counts are taken a month after school starts.

District schools were to be staffed at 97 percent of their projected need to save money, which would have meant fewer teachers and support staff at many district campuses.

The district budgeted for a $140 million shortfall for 2010-11 because of state cuts and declining revenue from local property taxes.

The federal money means that Clark County schools will be able to fill all of the positions their student enrollments entitle them to have. Officials have projected that the funding could save or create 1,400 education jobs in Nevada.

Rulffes expects that local schools will restore a "majority" of the 90 school-based administrative positions that were cut. Those 90 administrative positions include 46 deans at middle schools and high schools, 41 elementary school assistant principals, two assistant principals and one vacant position.

In all, 127 administrative employees were affected by the seniority-based bumping process used to eliminate positions, said Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-technical Employees.

Some workers took $10,000 pay cuts to move into less senior positions, he said. Restoring the administrative jobs will improve student instruction and school safety, he said.

Augspurger fears that not restoring the jobs would force schools to share administrators, such as having an assistant principal divide his time between two elementary schools.

"It's really a throwback to an era we thought we would never have to go back to," Augspurger said.

Because the federal funding is a "one-time gift," Augspurger hopes the district will take steps to mitigate future budget cuts.

Rulffes said he will present a detailed plan about Education Jobs funding at the Sept. 2 Clark County School Board meeting. He intends to give schools some latitude in their hiring decisions.

School Board President Terri Janison suggested some schools might even save their money for the future.

"It's tough times out there," she said.

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