Skorkowsky: CCSD overcrowded, underachieving — but improving

By Ian Whitaker

Monday, Jan. 26, 2015 | 2:21 p.m.

Clark County schools are often overcrowded, underachieving and underfunded, but the tide is turning.

Or at least that was the gist of Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky's State of the District speech this morning.

The top administrator took the stage at Green Valley High School to outline his vision for the district in 2015.

Here were the highlights:

Overcrowding

Schools in Clark County are growing once again.

Over 1,100 students have enrolled in elementary schools since Dec. 1, Skorkowsky said. Total enrollment sits at 319,000, a record for the district.

“I don’t know about you, but I lose sleep over that number on a daily basis,” he said.

Skorkowsky said that while the growth is proof of a recovering economy, it is also places more stress on already struggling schools, particular in the southwest part of the valley.

The district could build 26 new schools right now and still not be able to fix its overcrowding problem, he said. Sixty-one schools in CCSD are currently classified as overcrowded; the district is considering rezoning 21 schools to balance out the numbers.

“It is one of the challenges we will face,” he said.

Graduation rates

The number of students who earned diplomas remained roughly the same across the state between 2013 and 2014, but many schools in Clark County saw significant jumps.

“We are increasing the number of graduates that we have,” Skorkowsky said. "That ensures we have a positive economic impact on our community."

Though the rate in Clark County fell by .6 percent, 410 more high school students graduated in 2014.

Of the 57 schools CCSD tracks for graduation rates, 41 showed improvement in 2014. Ten schools recorded increases of 10 percent or more.

Skorkowsky said the district is looking to mentorship programs like My Brother’s Keeper, a national group that mentors young men of color, to help struggling students make the final push to graduation.

Quality

Skorkowsky addressed the district’s poor school performance head on.

An annual survey of student success by Education Week placed Nevada dead last in the country. The state is 36th in the nation when it comes to college readiness.

“That is not a good place,” Skorkowsky said.

But not all the data is against us, he said. According to the same study, Nevada ranked among the highest when it comes to improving reading and math scores from 2003 to 2013.

“I can’t always control a parent’s income, I can’t control their educational level or the language that is spoken in their home,” he said. “But what I can do is try to improve the education factors.”

Skorkowsky said the community can expect to see Nevada improve on the same measures that have placed them near the bottom in recent years.

“We have positive indicators that are showing that we are making a difference,” he said.

The superintendent also pledged to expand the district’s wildly popular magnet programs and career and technical academies.

Accountability

There’s a new term floating around Clark County’s education scene: Return on investment.

Skorkowsky called out members of the audience in the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce and other business groups that have stepped forward recently to help streamline the district’s budget and operations.

“They are my new advisors,” he said.

In the face of criticism and accusations of waste, Skorkowsky said the district is committed to being as transparent as possible with its spending.

On Jan. 14, Skorkowsky announced a partnership with business leaders in Southern Nevada to perform a comprehensive audit of every school, program and department in the district.

“The money we put into a central office should be ensuring that there are more resources going to our classrooms and teachers,” he said. “If it’s not, we need to look up ways that it should support them better.”

He said the district would axe programs and contracts that aren’t paying off and strengthen those that are.

Goals for the legislative session

Bolstered by Gov. Brian Sandoval’s stated commitment to put $800 million into K-12 education, Skorkowsky said he believes the state is turning a corner when it comes to supporting education.

“There’s never been a time [like this] when education has been at the forefront,” Skorkowsky said. "We are all aligned."

Skorkowsky is particularly anxious to see a rollover of CCSD’s bonding authority in order to fund construction of new schools and renovate old ones.

"If we can get that through this legislative session, I can start digging shovels into the ground before the session is done,” he said.

Other major items include the revision of the existing K-12 funding formula to provide more dollars for districts with struggling students, as well as increased support for zoom schools, which dedicate more resources to the district’s population of English language learners.

“It is time for us to stand up as a community,” he said, ending his speech in front of a large slide that read, “The time is now.”