Long Odds in Las Vegas

by Tim Walker

Very few school districts in the United States have been hit as hard as Clark County, Nevada. As recently as 2007, the district, home to Las Vegas and the fifth-largest in the nation (300,000 students), was furiously building new schools and hiring new teachers to keep up with the region’s tremendous population growth, which recently topped 1.9 million.

But that was then. Since 2008, the recession has cut deeply into tourism, the lifeblood of the Las Vegas economy, population growth has slowed and in 2009 student enrollments actually dipped.

Even though many areas of the country have seen upticks in their economies, Clark County residents recognize that they will wait longer to see any sustainable recovery.

“We’re losing jobs, we’re losing students. The economy is really hurting right now, “ says Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association (CCEA). “Las Vegas isn’t going to be in a good shape anytime soon.”

In a state that always ranked at the bottom in the nation in funding per student, the impact on the region’s schools has been severe. Since 2007, the district has lost more than $250 million in education funding and cuts are becoming common.

Central to the problem is the Nevada’s funding formula. Clark County receives about 44 percent of its basic education funding from the state but the remainder falls on property taxes, gaming taxes, and sales taxes – all of which take a hit during downturns, particularly in an economy so dependent on tourism.

“It’s amazing we don’t have the ability to raise county and state taxes, which education advocates can call for in other parts of the country,” says Murillo. “We’re solely dependent on the legislature, which meets every other year to fund education.”

Crucial programs and jobs were on the line in 2010 as the district wrestled with a $125 million budget gap, created by a $80 million cut in state funding and an expected $45 million decline in property tax revenues. In June, CCEA voted to approve more than $22 million in concessions to help fill the gap and the district is hoping to find another $20 million by reverting year-round schools to regular nine-month schedules.

(Clark County educator Nadia De Leon discusses the impact of education cuts)

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Facing an already grim environment, Clark County schools are bracing for more cuts in 2011 and 2012.

“I’m worried because as a teacher I’m always trying to find creative things to do with my students,” says Angela Barbre, a computer teacher at Keller Middle School in Las Vegas. “Class sizes increasing will impact our students tremendously. If we don’t have the necessary funding, programs will be cut, electives will go.”

Clark County educators believe that full funding of education is essential if the region is to diversify its economy in the long term. Still, the efforts by CCEA and other public education advocates to lobby for more funding will gain more traction with lawmakers if and when community support steps up.

“That’s what we’re missing right now,” explains Nadia De Leon, a teacher at Paul Culley Elementary School. “People for the most apart have been out of the classroom for so long and they don’t see what is going on. The challenge for schools is to show cuts in education can negatively impact whole communities. I just hope our situation doesn’t have to get so much more worse before this realization sets in.”

(Clark County teacher Emily Bassier talks about how activist parents can help public education.)
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