School officials try to plan for cuts amid uncertainty

The only thing Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes knows with any certainty is that statewide education cuts totaling $96 million are coming -- soon.

He doesn't know what they'll be.

He's also not clear on what's legally allowed.

State budget officials are looking at reducing one-time funding earmarked for full-day kindergarten and remediation. One legislator now is saying that money can't be used for any other purpose because it's restricted from returning to the state's general fund.

"There's not a lot of definite direction," said Rulffes, who is at the helm of the nation's fifth-largest public school system. "The $96 million is all we're sure of."

That's how much needs to be absorbed by K-12 education as Gov. Jim Gibbons tries to offset a shortfall in Nevada tax revenues by reducing state spending. Gibbons' decision to include public schools in the 4.5 percent budget reductions over the 2007-09 biennium came in December after he had said schools would be exempt from the cuts.

At a Monday meeting of the Clark County School Board, board members and budget personnel outlined a broad strategy for approaching the state cuts.

Focus on reducing "one-shot funding" and keep the ax away from per-pupil spending, finance administrators advised.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, told board members that she did not think any cuts were necessary.

"We don't have to do this," she said. "We have a rainy day fund. We created a rainy day fund just for this purpose."

Instead of taking a slice out of education, Gibbons should withdraw the $96 million from the state's rainy day fund, which has about $267 million, Buckley said.

Gibbons already has proposed using $126 million of the fund to make up the shortfall in expected tax revenues.

"Our schools simply cannot take the hits that the governor is proposing," said Buckley, who noted that Nevada ranks 46th in the nation in per-pupil funding.

In the 2007 session, legislators appropriated $55.2 million for new or expanded education programs statewide for 2007-09.

The 4.5 percent cut proposed by Gibbons not only wipes out the 3.27 percent increase in education funding passed during the session, it also cuts into the existing programs, Buckley said.

She told School Board members that millions of dollars allocated to full-day kindergarten and empowerment schools are protected from being used for any other purpose.

That's not the message District Chief Financial Officer Jeff Weiler got when he met with Gibbons' staff in Carson City on Monday afternoon, Rulffes said. Weiler was told that the one-shot money could be counted toward the cuts.

State officials recognize the money would remain in trust, Rulffes said, but at that point, they could return to the Legislature and ask to have the money revert to the state's general budget.

But there's no guarantee the Legislature would allow that, Rulffes said. The situation is only serving to muddy the waters.

"That's one of our big questions," Rulffes said. "Is the governor going to declare that the one-shots will be reduced?"

Rulffes also said the state is asking the district to identify specific cuts this week, something that is not going to be possible.

Rulffes said the issue requires board input and public feedback. Also, many of the rural districts do not have school board meetings scheduled until February.

He had hoped that Clark County would be allowed to count $66.6 million saved because of projected enrollment declines toward the cuts, but Weiler had no success in carrying that message to Carson City.

The governor's budget staff had factored that savings into the budget picture before arriving at the need for 4.5 percent reductions.

School Board member Carolyn Edwards was angered by the fact that although the district has returned $391 million in general funds to the state since 2001, none of that was taken into account when the time came to cut.

Instead of returning such dollars to the state general fund in the future, a special account should be created, Edwards said. The reversion funds then should be held in trust for budget shortfalls like this, Edwards said.

"The Education First governor is putting Nevada at the bottom," Edwards said.

While the district might not know what is going to happen at the state level, officials know what they don't want to see happen.

The cost-of-living raises that are planned for school employees aren't on the table, Rulffes said. State Superintendent of Schools Keith Rheault said that money is negotiable, but Rulffes said he is not interested in reducing teacher salaries.

District employee groups already have gotten a 2 percent raise worth more than $29 million. Next year's cost of living increase is scheduled at 4 percent, which Rulffes said amounts to more than $50 million for district employees.

"Our intent is to protect cost-of-living increases for teachers who are already underpaid," Rulffes said.

Rulffes also wants to protect per-pupil funding.

This year, the district's per-pupil funding is at $4,891. Without reductions, it's expected to be at $5,051 in 2008-09. If cuts are made to that allocation, the effect carries over in every subsequent year, Rulffes said.

School Board members were told that cuts to per-pupil spending could snowball into a loss of $302.6 million by 2011.

Contact reporter Lisa Kim Bach at lbach@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0287.