Cuts from the top can help balance school budgets

By René Hill

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008 | midnight

As the state budget crunch continues, schools are seriously impacted by cuts. Teachers all over the Clark County School District have been called into meetings at their schools and asked to recommend what should be cut at the school level.

The problem is that there is nothing left to cut. Any further school-based cuts would seriously affect student education, and Nevada can't afford the long-term results. There are, however, cuts that can be made within the Clark County School District that won't affect the quality of student achievement.

The one area that has not been seriously scrutinized is upper district personnel. We are now divided into six regions run by a regional superintendent and two assistants. Add to this the administrative and secretarial support, as well as the buildings in which all this is housed.

While the School District claims the savings in eliminating this would be small compared with other areas, they are a cost that could be saved, and we have to begin somewhere. The savings will begin to add up.

Another area of concern is in the duplication of services among school site, region and district level personnel. An example of this duplication is in English Language Learner services. There are specialists on each campus, as well as several positions in each region, as well as the central district office.

Again, upon close scrutiny, there are several positions that could be consolidated or eliminated.

If parents speak out and insist the Clark County School District look at ways to cut the fat on the district level and stop taking away what little resources the schools have saved, officials will have to listen.

We are in a position of having to work harder and smarter with what we have left. The teachers have been working hard at that this year, with no new textbooks and little copy paper and office supplies. Teaching positions are being frozen and left unfilled.

We are doing all that we can but are trying desperately to keep up the quality of education for our students. We are all in the position of making difficult choices, and parents have the power to guide those choices.

René Hill is a special education and former English teacher in the Clark County School District. She can be reached c/o The News, 2360 Corporate Circle, Third Floor, Henderson, NV 89074 or [email protected].