School Board approves spending federal funds to restore staffing

The Clark County School Board on Thursday approved spending $54 million in federal funding to hire as many as 920 new employees for the new school year.

The Clark County School District's plan is to increase school staffing from 97 percent to 100 percent based on an enrollment formula. The district had purposely understaffed its schools this year in anticipation of a $140 million budget shortfall.

Because "we took it away from schools; we now have to give it back," School Board President Terri Janison said.

Superintendent Walt Rulffes recommended hiring about 510 teachers or licensed staff, 300 support staff, 50 maintenance workers and 60 school-based administrators, but principals will be given discretion to make their own hiring decisions.

Some board members worried that the principals would not necessarily hire additional employees. Principals, for example, could use the money to buy out teachers' preparation time and have them teach extra classes.

For accountability, the board asked that the principals report their hiring decisions to their area superintendents.

The Education Jobs funding does allows for flexibility so the money could be used for pay raises or other benefits such as health insurance or tuition reimbursement.

Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, argued that the money should be used to restore longevity pay raises for teachers. The raises were frozen this year as a budget concession. He said negotiations might have turned out differently had the union known the district would get $54 million from the federal government. Nevada as a whole got $83 million from Education Jobs.

Because the economy is in dire straits, the School Board wanted to move quickly to create jobs. Board member Linda Young wanted to make the most of the one-time funding.

"It's like the Titanic going down," Young said. "You have to stay out of the freezing water as long as you can."