By Al Litman/Ely Mayor
I’m writing this article to give you my opinion what currently appears to be a non-issue, at least for the time being, but very well could come back.
Mayor Al Litman
Assembly Bill 420 was drafted with the purpose of creating a rural school district separate from Clark County School District.
A good idea, but perhaps a bit too soon. Several years ago, I believe, it was proposed as a ballot question to start with to get the feelings of the communities.
It didn’t happen for unknown reasons. I personally thought it would not go over well because of the unknown costs to the local taxpayers, and I’ll briefly explain why.
By the way, I am in favor of breaking away from the dysfunctional district our students are now in. I believe that before the current bill was drafted that considerable research needed to be done in the way of a feasibility study so that everyone knew what and how the new district could function.
It’s like buying a house sight unseen, and realizing the unanticipated costs that come with it.
School district funding and financing are far more complicated that most people think. Many hidden costs. To this day, we don’t know how the money the district receives is actually allocated.
As I said, it’s complicated.
I can speak from a knowledge base having spent nearly 20 years with three different districts and providing consultation services to a fourth one.
The closest to Mesquite was the Simi Unified District in California. Simi Valley had around 20,000 residents when I started there.
It did have more schools than Mesquite because of a younger population, but the needs were pretty much the same.
The district had a large building that held numerous staff in various departments, as well as the Superintendent, and his support staff , and building that housed the necessary vehicles, books and supplies, and so much more.
Maintenance workers of all types had their offices also. I won’t elaborate on what additional resources were housed there.
Currently, all of this is housed in Las Vegas. Income to the district came from many sources.
First and foremost was funding from average daily attendance, federal funds for various programs, school bonds, and local taxes dedicated to the district made up the rest.
And speaking of bonds, in 2020 the district approved $400 million in school bonds that will have to be repaid back at some time. How much of that burden will be on local taxpayers?
It takes a lot of money to run a school district. I sincerely hope that no one thinks I am opposed to our own district, but there is much to be done if we expect to get what we want.
On another subject, and hopefully the last you will hear about it, our Sports and Events Center. I believe we have solved the noise, trash, and other issues with Pylon Football.
The last event went without a hitch, and they are coming back next year. They were very cooperative and all issues should be solved. Sports tourism is doing well in Mesquite and will only grow. We need to support it.
Al Litman is mayor of the city of Mesquite.
I want to make a comment about the lack of and need of teachers. It seems that cc’ed issnd other districts are in short supply of teachers. But the accreditation is so difficult, even for those holding MA/MS degrees. Seems counter intuitive. You want/ need teachers but make it difficult to hire them. Perhaps a restructuring of the hiring process is needed. If one put in the Time to get his Master’s degree, then it seems that he/she should be qualified to teach. Or is it just another way of collecting $$? Everytime one takes the certification exam, it’s more money one has to pay for it. System needs change.