Clark County (Las Vegas)
Clark County School District will use its State Fiscal Stabilization Fund dollars to make up for falling sales tax revenue and offset decreased state funding. The district will also issue $104 million in ARRA’s Qualified School Construction Bonds over a two-year period to fund renovation and modernization projects that had been approved by the bond oversight committee and by the Board of School Trustees prior to the enactment of ARRA but for which funding was previously unavailable.
The district will use Title I stimulus funding to provide additional staff development and to expand a variety of resources for students. These resources include early childhood programs, before- and after-school programs, Saturday school, summer school, and tutorial and remedial programs. In additional stimulus dollars will support online classes, parent involvement, and credit retrieval. The district expanded its Title I program by 68 schools using ARRA funding, and now has a total of 151 Title I schools. Title I funds paid for 132 new teachers, 82 school-based support staff members, and 32 temporary staff members. The district also plans to invest Title I resources in training more highly qualified teachers. Additional Title I funds will provide supplementary educational-vocational assistance for approximately 145 students attending Spring Mountain Youth Camp and Summit View Correctional Institution.
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Funds will assist the district in supporting homeless students. Using this funding, Clark County School District plans to expand the High School Circle of Hope program, provide additional tutoring services for homeless students in need of assistance, and purchase supplies and materials necessary for these students to be successful.
The district’s IDEA ARRA grant will be used to assist in the initiation, expansion, and improvement of programs for educating children with disabilities. Funds will be used to expand extended-school-day opportunities and instructional programs, as well as to support efforts aimed at dropout prevention, credit retrieval, positive behavioral support, and autism support. IDEA funding will also support parent involvement, school-to-work programs, site-based teacher mentors, assistive technology, and university partnerships, along with data collection for Response to Intervention, and professional development.
An IDEA early childhood grant will help the district with program improvements to meet National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation standards and to upgrade services for children with disabilities before they enter first grade. Through addressing one or more of the established IDEA indicators, the district hopes to improve cognitive and social outcomes for preschool children, as well as to improve parents’ involvement in their children’s special education programs. The early childhood grant will support data tracking, assistive technology, and professional development.
The district’s transportation department has applied for a $6 million ARRA grant that will allow the department to update its bus fleet and use cleaner fuel options. The matching grant will enable the school system to purchase approximately 33 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, install a CNG fueling station for those buses, and create a quick-fill CNG station at the district’s Transportation Center. Funds made possible by the grant will help the district establish the necessary infrastructure to allow for expansion of the CNG fueling capabilities at the transportation facility.
The district also received a child nutrition ARRA grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the purchase of food transportation equipment. The additional equipment will expand the kitchen capability of individual schools and enable them to provide more school-prepared meals.
The district is also planning to submit an application for funding under the Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation programs.
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