LETTER: Without more money, we should close Clark County’s public schools
December 17, 2023 - 9:01 pm
Your Dec. 10 article on teacher recruitment put things over the edge for me regarding the Clark County School District. It is clear to me after 25 years residing in Las Vegas that the recruitment and retention issues will never go away because of the paltry pay. The district must also deal with the large number of non-English speaking students and the need to continually build more schools. Both these factors push up costs.
The major players in the state who control the Legislature want to keep their taxes low. Consequently, there will never be sufficient funds to increase pay, recruit more teachers and deal with the realities of education here. It does not help that the state Department of Education and CCSD already waste large amounts money duplicating effort. Ask anyone trying to become a teacher here and they will tell you that almost everything has to be done twice over.
So perhaps now is the time for the district school board to stand up and do something useful for once. Write a letter to the governor and the Legislature telling them that a public education system in Clark County is not viable with the current structure and funding. It really is that simple.