LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3) -- Closing down schools, increasing class sizes, or cutting programs -- those are the tough choices the Clark County School District Board faces after the election.
Voters struck down Question 2 on the ballot, which would have funded improvement projects at dozens of older schools.
School Board members say they have no money left for those projects.
CCSD Board of Trustee member Deanna Wright says a 1998 10-year-bond and rolled-over savings from previous years’ budgets helped move school repairs along, but now the savings and the bond money are gone.
A couple schools may have to close its doors because of safety hazards that they have no money to fix.
Shutting down schools means moving students to other schools, increasing class sizes and returning to year-round calendars.
A tax initiative on the ballot would have brought $670 million over a six -year span to fix problems at 42 schools.
Rex Bell Elementary is dealing with leaking roofs and boilers.
Boulder City High School houses one of the oldest buildings in Clark County. The funding would have eliminated electrical problems in its auditorium by building a new one. Its six-decade old classrooms, aging with problems, would have been replaced.
But nearly 432,000 residents voted against Question 2.
Now the School District says it’s forced to choose a narrow path that's more reactive than proactive.
The state does not fund any capital improvements for schools; the voters decide on that. So the School District has to wait two more years to bring it back up on the ballot.
The Board of Trustees will have to make some tough decisions in the next six months that they know will not be popular with the parents.
