New superintendent says getting district’s fiscal house in order is priority
The new leader of the country’s fifth-largest school district wants to work with lawmakers to update the state’s decades-old funding formula and maximize current funds by streamlining curriculum.
Superintendent Jesus Jara, who spent six years in Florida as the deputy superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, has been meeting with district employees and learning the intricacies of a $2.4 billion district.
Jara sat down with the Sun news staff and editorial board less than a week before today’s start of the new school year and shared some of his priorities. His comments below have been edited for length and clarity.
How can the district better fund education and give teachers and support staff raises?
It seems pretty simple, (and) I wish it was all that simple. The challenge is a couple things.
Having a clear understanding of our internal fiscal house, that’s number one as we go back and start looking for money. We have to build that trust within CCSD internally and also within this community. We need to just really get our fiscal house in order.
If governors ask me, “How much money do you need?” I’m going to first of all have that clear understanding of how much I’m going to ask for ... to then build an educational system that our children deserve.
The other thing is ... we really need to build a coalition or an effort in Carson City around changing the funding formula. We have 17 studies that tell us that we don’t fund education appropriately, and the inequities. Seventeen. We don’t need another study. What we need to do is take action.
If we all really want to invest in our kids and our teachers, then we need to modernize the formula so that it’s equitable for the children in Clark County. It’s going to take us some time.
Can the district improve on its contract negotiations with district employees?