Education cut is one for books
Editors note: Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget proposes major cuts in funding for public schools and higher education. Over the next three weeks, a Review-Journal series is taking a close look at the effects such cuts may have on students and how educators are preparing to deal with them.
With an expected funding shortfall of more than $400 million next year, Clark County School District trustees and administrators have turned to books to balance their books.
Because salaries and benefits make up 90 percent of the district’s operational budget, reducing money for textbooks and school supplies is one of a few ways to cut spending without eliminating jobs.
And so the district plans to spend 50 percent less on books and supplies for 2011-2012, according to its tentative budget. Administrators believe the $24.8 million saved by doubling a 25 percent cut proposed earlier will help preserve about 650 jobs.
Officials acknowledge that the cuts in books and supplies will hamper their ability to offer academic programs or even hand out pencils to needy students next year.
But, said chief financial officer Jeff Weiler, "In light of everything else, we thought it was a reasonable amount to propose,"
SUPPLIES VS. TEACHERS
To mitigate the cuts’ impact, the district will allow individual schools to roll over any money not spent in their supply budgets from this year to next.
That policy change, however, prompted School Board Trustee Linda Young to request further mining of the textbook and supply budget to save even more jobs.
If a school has an extra $30,000, Young argues, a principal should have the flexibility to spend it on a part-time teacher or teacher’s aide instead of using it for Crayons or toner for the photocopier.
But Weiler and Superintendent Dwight Jones say it’s unwise for a school to spend one-time money for a job that it might not be able to sustain in future years.
Young said she understands that it might only delay the inevitable, but "at least the inevitable is not today."
Weiler anticipates that district schools will have little money left in their supply budgets by the end of next year, because of planned reductions to the district’s funding formula.
Individual schools now are funded per student for textbooks and supplies, from $95.66 per elementary student to $103.38 and $110.48 per student in middle school and high school, respectively, according to district budget documents.
Schools can receive additional per-student funding based on criteria such as increased enrollment or new school startup costs, and each school receives an overall annual allotment ranging from $6,000 to $12,000.
With the 50 percent cuts in the tentative budget, and depending on the size and type of school, the revenue loss will range from $44,000 to $174,000 per school.
EFFECT ON STUDENTS
The cuts will impact students, said Andre Denson, area superintendent over public schools in northern Clark County: They will be "very dramatic, especially considering that we fund textbooks and supplies so low already."
Schools try to maintain a ready supply of pencils and paper because so many students come to school without essential materials.
"It sounds very minuscule because a pencil only costs 10 cents," Denson said. "If you think of the aggregate, add up the number of days; it can be challenging."
Help for some schools come from public, parental or organizational donations.
"We say, ‘You don’t have to, but if you want to you can.’ A lot of school communities will donate the paper, the pens, the tissues," he said.
Many schools are not so fortunate, however, and will be forced to monitor supplies or make students copy math problems from a book instead of giving them worksheets for homework.
Jeff Geihs, principal of Liberty High School in Henderson, says the cuts will make it difficult to offer new classes since a new textbook might cost upwards of $100.
He also worries that schools no longer will be able to offer two sets of textbooks for core classes such as English and math. Teachers typically allow students to keep one book at home, since they have access to a classroom set at school. This reduces wear and tear, and lightens the book load in students’ backpacks, Geihs said.
He also fears more books will be lost or misplaced. While students are charged the cost of a replacing a book, many students move out of the district each year, making it nearly impossible to recoup the money, he said.
DELAYED PURCHASES
Jones is also looking to save money by delaying the purchase of new books.
For the past three years, the district has been narrowing its list of approved textbooks to increase its buying power with publishers and make it easier for the schools to share materials, Denson said. That way, "everybody is on the same page."
And School Board Trustee John Cole wants the district to take advantage of the latest in information technology.
"It’s hard to walk around a school today without seeing a student with an iPad," he said. "This is the electronic age. This is how these kids live."
Whenever he walks "into every library in our schools, I start to think, ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be nice if we could use this space for so many other things," Cole said.
Lauren Kohut-Rost, deputy superintendent for instruction, said the district now requires publishers to supply online and compact disc versions of their textbooks.
So far, there have not been any cost savings, she said: "The textbook companies are still out there to make their profit."
While schools might not have money for new textbooks, Denson said the projected budget should be adequate to pay for whatever replacement books might be needed.
And newer schools likely will need fewer of them.
"We’re only eight years old," Liberty principal Geiha said. "We haven’t had to replace many books here."
Zhan Okuda Lim, 18, is a senior at Valley High School, among the district’s older schools. He said that he has never had to share a textbook with another student or been told he couldn’t take a book home.
With some exceptions, such as advances in science, schools can reuse lesson materials.
Okuda Lim said: "If you’re reading Hamlet, the text of Hamlet does not change."
OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES
A common complaint among teachers is they must spend their own money on school supplies.
Heather Cyra, a fifth grade teacher at Gray Elementary School, recently spent $27 to have enough paper for the rest of the school year.
She said her biggest expense usually is at the beginning of the year, when she will typically shell out more than a $1,000 to decorate and equip a new classroom.
But spending her own money is a minor annoyance compared to worrying about whether she will have job next year or how she will pay back the $40,000 in government loans she took out to earn a master’s degree in education.
As a third-year teacher, Cyra has little seniority to protect her from the unemployment line.
"It’s not something I dwell on, but it is in the back of your head."
Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.
