COMMENTARY: School district windfall is being used wisely
The Review-Journal’s Tuesday editorial observes that taxpayers will be “shocked” to learn that school districts across the county used COVID relief funds to “pad” payrolls. What is shocking is that the Review-Journal’s editorial team considers it a misuse of the historic federal investment in education to provide teachers with needed resources and compensate educators for their work throughout the pandemic.
The Review-Journal clearly prefers the mouthpiece role it plays on behalf of those fighting to dismantle public education.
People are the backbone of any organization and community. This has always been true for the Clark County School District — even more so throughout the pandemic. Teachers, support professionals and administrators are our greatest assets for student achievement. Only through their efforts were we able to completely change the way we deliver public education in Clark County throughout the pandemic.
Over 18 months, they shifted from traditional in-person instruction to distance education to hybrid instruction, then back to in-person. All as our community — and the entire world — navigated an unprecedented pandemic. Each phase required new skills and countless hours of planning, training and adapting. District educators never quit working during the pandemic. We remained open as our work shifted to online instruction, and we worked to get children and families connected so they could access instruction.
Yes, the district raised the starting salary for teachers to improve recruitment amid a nationwide teacher shortage, though not by irresponsibly allocating one-time use relief funds. If the Review-Journal thinks this is a flawed business model, it must research national trends of companies such as Amazon, Target and countless other private businesses raising pay to provide employees with appropriate compensation.
Like every service enterprise, the bulk of the district’s budget goes to pay its people.
Ignoring the evidence of improvement from the Review-Journal’s education reporters — like the rise in graduation rates and increases in state test scores — exposes the blinders of bias of the paper’s editorial page, which continues to sow misinformation to disparage the dedicated work of public educators.
Students are showing signs of improvement, and we look forward to that improvement continuing. But we do not expect it to happen overnight. Thanks to the federal funding provided by the current administration, investments are helping students with additional summer learning enrichment programs. They have also funded districtwide after-school tutoring and investments providing students with emotional support to help them overcome the depression, trauma and mental health impacts created by the pandemic.
The district will continue investing its federal pandemic dollars to benefit the students of Clark County and advocating for additional resources from the state so we can continue improving academic outcomes for children. Yes, that will include requests for better pay for every Clark County School District employee who focuses on student safety, well-being and education.
Jesus Jara is superintendent of the Clark County School District.
