Tailoring a new blueprint for growth

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 | 7:01 a.m.

With debate over funding full-day kindergarten looming in the Legislature, the Clark County School District is drafting blueprints for its next generation of schools to accommodate the additional classrooms the program would require.

Based on preliminary estimates, the cost of building extra classrooms to handle all-day kindergarten programs would add nearly 10 percent to the price of a school.

The decision to plan for more kindergarten space was made Monday as School Board members discussed asking voters to extend a multibillion-dollar bond measure in 2008 to finance school construction.

"We felt the timing was important. We don't want the legislators to feel there is any reason they cannot support this," School Board President Ruth Johnson said.

"The Legislature can see the path has been cleared. If it chooses not to fund full-day kindergarten for all students in Clark County, it will not be because we have failed to do everything we could do to make that happen."

While the Clark County School District is factoring in the cost of all-day kindergarten facilities as it plans school construction, it hopes legislators will provide funding to offset construction, teacher and operating costs.

Paul Gerner, associate superintendent of facilities for the district, said accommodating full-day kindergarten will likely boost the cost of building elementary schools by $1.7 million per campus. The district's current prototype costs between $20 million and $23 million to build, depending on the location.

Based on student enrollment projections and the current mix of year-round and nine-month schools, the district expects to need 79 new elementary schools by 2014. That would put the total price tag for expanded kindergarten facilities at about $134 million.

The high demand for contractors and labor in Southern Nevada, coupled with spiraling prices for construction materials, have doubled the price tag for a new elementary school in just four years, Gerner said.

The district's first-draft estimates for its next 10-year capital building plan range from $10 billion to $13.4 billion, depending on enrollment and the percentage of elementary schools that operate year-round.

That price tag is a sharp increase since 1998, when voters approved a bond measure that has so far generated about $4.7 billion. By the completion of the 10-year plan, the district will have built 100 schools - 18 more than promised - and replaced 11 others.

In addition to more kindergarten classrooms, the School Board wants the new prototype to include larger multipurpose rooms, which will make it easier for schools to accommodate extracurricular activities.

"That's going to be a major selling point for us on the bond issue," said Walt Rulffes, Clark County schools superintendent. "We open our schools for community use. We want our campuses to be the center of the neighborhood."

The district offers full-day kindergarten programs to students attending about 100 at-risk schools. Other campuses provide optional all-day programs at a cost of $300 per month per child. Gov. Jim Gibbons has said he is not in favor of full-day kindergarten for all students, and instead suggested the issue be put off until the next legislative session when there is more data on programs currently being piloted throughout the state. Opponents of full-day kindergarten say young children are better off at home and that the program amounts to state-subsidized child care.

Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, an outspoken opponent of full-day kindergarten, said the School District may be misjudging the public's support for the program.

"The danger is that voters won't approve the bond measure" because of the cost of accommodating the all-day program, Beers said. "And I believe that would be a tragedy."

Education advocates and Democratic lawmakers say there is a wealth of evidence that full-day kindergarten programs result in students who are better prepared for first grade and beyond.

Even if the bond measure is approved and pays for the additional kindergarten facilities, Rulffes said the state's help will still be needed to staff and operate the program.

"We have a lot of work to do, to communicate the necessity to our legislators and our governor," Rulffes said.

To save money on design and construction fees, the district uses prototypes for its elementary, middle and high school campuses. At Monday's work session, district staff told the School Board that the current middle school design has been largely successful and no major alter ations are recommended. A larger cafeteria is being recommended for the high school design, a two-story structure with an open esplanade and "mall" layout.

The School Board is asking that the new elementary school prototypes be more flexible. For example, connecting power, water and sewer lines for modular classrooms can be costly and time-consuming. Ideally, the new prototype would have the hook-ups for modulars already in place, Johnson said.

The prototype would also have a larger multipurpose room, providing more space for cafeteria seating and extracurricular activities.

The School District allows community groups, including Scout troops, athletic teams and churches, to use its facilities for a fee. Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas also rent campus facilities for "Safe Key" programs before and after school.

"This all comes back to the voters," Johnson said. "We want everyone to feel the school they purchased for their neighborhood is the one that fits their needs best."