District Tries to Find Ways to Build More New Schools

By ANTONIO PLANAS

REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Clark County School District will have to build at least 138 schools during a 10-year period to maintain pace with growth once its current bond measure expires in 2008, district officials said at a Bond Oversight Committee meeting Thursday.

No estimates have been made of how much revenue will be needed to build those schools.

And no decision has been made on when to bring the next bond measure before the voters, although likely dates are 2006 or 2008.

The projections will be presented to the School Board in November, and the cost of the bond might be known by the middle of next year, co-interim Superintendent Walt Rulffes said.

District officials looked at three different scenarios, one which calls for 138 new schools, another for 158 and the third for 212, based on the number of year-round schools.

The plan for 138 new schools assumes all elementary schools are on a year-round calendar. Under the plan to build 158 schools, 43 percent of the elementary schools would operate under a year-round calendar. The plan for 211 schools operates under the assumption that all elementary schools are on a nine-month calendar.

School Board member Sheila Moulton said the issue of year-round schedules versus nine-month schedules can be critical for parents who have children in elementary schools.

“Several of our board members and our public don’t care for the year-round calendar,” Moulton said.

She said one key issue in the district’s campaign to convince voters of the necessity of another bond measure is whether they are willing to have more of their elementary schools convert to year- round calendars.

“Is the public willing to put up those elementary schools?” Moulton asked.

The district is expected to be short about eight elementary schools when its current bond expires in 2008.

District regulation calls for a school to move from a nine-month calendar to year-round if the school is over capacity by 15 percent for two consecutive years, and if there are five or more teachers per grade level for three of the five grades.

The bond approved in 1998 called for 88 new schools to be built with $3.5 billion. Twenty-six schools remain to be built under that bond, with some of those under construction.

Rulffes said the 1998 bond measure has been a success.

“Our buildings have come in on time and under budget,” he said. “And we’ve been able to maintain growth.”

The school district, the fifth-largest in the nation, gains about 15,000 students each year.

The district’s current bond is expected to produce more schools than initially projected: 90 new schools, with an additional 10 older schools being replaced.