Deadline on budget worries educators

If the partisan divide isn’t bridged by the July 1 start of the fiscal year, would the state’s largest school system have to shut down, wondered School Board President Carolyn Edwards on Wednesday.

“I seriously doubt this Legislature can get it done by June 6,” said Edwards, referring to the end of the regular session. “It puts us in some jeopardy. We need to be thinking about what our options are if we get to July 1 with no money.”

Democratic legislators want a $7 billion state budget for 2011-13, which would include proposals to raise $571 million in new taxes and postponement of the June 30 expiration date on about $626 million in existing taxes. However, Republicans support a $6.1 billion budget proposed by GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval, who came into office promising to oppose tax and fee increases.

Neither side has the votes needed to make their proposals a reality.

At the board meeting, Super­intendent Dwight Jones assured Edwards that school staff members are “looking at those scenarios and certainly having those kinds of conversations.”

Jones did not detail how the district would function without approved state funding, which accounts for a third of the district’s operating budget.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Weiler declined to discuss hypothetical situations after the School Board reluctantly and “under protest” passed a final budget for 2011-12 that includes a $407 million funding shortfall and requires 1,800 job cuts.

The budget will have to be revised later when a state budget is approved. However, the board had to pass a budget to meet a state deadline.

If the district honors its employee contracts, it would have to spend about $2.2 billion next year when it anticipates having only about $1.8 billion in funding. That compares to a current budget of $2.1 billion.

The 2011-12 budget also assumes that the district will get about $167 million in concessions from employee unions in the form of furlough days, pay-raise freezes and increased employee contributions to pension and health insurance costs.

An additional 2,500 employees would have to be laid off if no concessions are made by the four employee unions. Jones stressed that “substantial job losses and severe” consequences could occur after July 1 if the concessions are not granted.

About 500 support staffers are already getting notices that they will be laid off or “reduced in force” next year, said Bill Garis, the district’s acting director of human resources.

Because of staffing reductions, about 1,000 teachers at this point do not have jobs for next year, but retirements and employee turnover are expected to mitigate that.

The district is largely reducing staff by raising class sizes by three students in the elementary grades and by two students in grades 6-12.

Because of improving economic conditions, district officials anticipate having an additional $69 million in state funding for next year.

That money was not formally included in the budget, because the numbers are still being verified.

The district’s budget also assumes it will not take $90 million from the debt service fund to pay for operational expenses as Gov. Brian Sandoval has recommended.

That idea has proven unpopular with Democratic lawmakers, who hold the majority in both chambers of the Legislature.

If the governor’s recommendation should become law, the $90 million would be used to offset the $407 million shortfall. The district has made rolling back class-size increases its top priority should additional revenues become available.

The district might also get $35 million from a room tax that is being diverted into the state’s general operating budget and an additional $85 million from a local sales support tax if the Legislature is able to extend it past July 1, when it is scheduled to sunset.

School Board member Erin Cranor thought it was “poetic” that the $90 million from the district’s debt service fund is roughly equal to the amount of revenue generated by the local schools support tax, should that be kept at its current rate of 2.6 percent.

The tax, however, is scheduled to go back to 2.25 percent on July 1.

While the governor has taken a firm stand against tax increases, Cranor argues that a current tax isn’t an increase.

“My personal opinion is that it doesn’t feel like a tax increase,” Cranor said.

School Board member John Cole urged the public to chastise lawmakers for not reaching an accord.

Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents district teachers, compared the budget battle to Cher’s retirement tour: “It keeps going on and on.”

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.