MVHS Empowerment Not A Fix-all To Budget Woes

While Empowerment status at Moapa Valley High School has offered additional resources and numerous advantages, Principal Grant Hanevold knows it is not all downhill from here. Hanevold recognizes that MVHS, and its Empowerment goals, can still be impacted deeply by looming State budget cuts.

“A lot of people assume that, since we are Empowered, we are not subject to district budget cuts,” Hanevold said in an interview. “That is unfortunately not true.”

Hanevold is facing bleak budget scenarios that could see the MVHS faculty losing as many as seven teaching positions next year. “And in a small rural school like ours, cutting teachers usually translates to cutting programs,” Hanevold said.

MVHS was selected last May as one of 14 Empowerment Schools in the Clark County School District (CCSD). The Empowerment model gives local school administrators greater autonomy in making scheduling, budgetary and curriculum decisions. Administrators and staff are then held to higher accountability for student achievement.

Empowerment status was originally granted with no promise of additional funding. But during the summer of 2008, the CCSD announced that private grants from the Bellagio and the Lincy foundation would increase the school’s discretionary budget from $160,000 to $550,000 per year.

But despite this additional funding, MVHS still faces proposed district-wide cuts that may adversely affect staffing at the school.

The details of the cuts won’t be fully known until March, Hanevold said. “But I want the community to know that there is just absolutely no way to maintain every program and every teacher given the economic dilemma we are in,” he said.

The potential cuts at MVHS are threatening to come from three different areas.

First, the CCSD has already announced that it would cut additional staffing for block scheduling.

Block scheduling is a unique system where students attend four extended periods each day and, over a two day cycle, attend a total of eight periods. This allows students to take eight classes each semester instead of the more traditional six. Additional teaching positions are allocated to schools that are running on a block schedule.

Currently 17 out of 36 CCSD high schools operate on a block schedule, including MVHS.

The CCSD decision to cut block scheduling will cut district funding for three teaching positions from the MVHS staff. Still, Hanevold is determined that the block schedule must be retained at the school.

“I see the block schedule as essential to our Empowerment plan,” Hanevold said.

He further explained that the eight courses in block scheduling allow students additional open class periods. Periods where they may take college courses from the local College of Southern Nevada center; or take additional elective courses.

“The block schedule provides 25% more opportunity for our kids,” Hanevold said. “We can’t achieve our Empowerment goals without it.”

Fortunately, due to Empowerment, Hanevold has the option of continuing to run the block. But he has to figure out a way to do it with three less teacher positions provided by the CCSD.

“I either have to pay for those three staff positions out of Empowerment funds or figure out how to run it with fewer teachers,” Hanevold said.

Hanevold met recently with teachers to discuss this dilemma. The teachers offered a partial solution. Hanevold reported that the faculty voted unanimously to sacrifice some of their teacher prep time to teach more classes and, thus, make up for the difference.

But that only addresses part of the problem. Another looming staff cut comes from the steady reduction in student population at MVHS. This year the school was fully staffed to teach 630 students. But the past year has seen decline in student population as families have moved out of the community. Next year, the projected student population will be at only 580.

In addition, the CCSD has proposed a cut that would only staff schools at 97% of the projected student population.

In short, this would result in a loss of two more teachers at MVHS, Hanevold said.

Finally, the school faces another possible cut. MVHS has historically benefitted from a special small school allotment of teachers. This allotment enables rural schools the ability to offer a full range of elective and core offerings. Unfortunately, the small school allotment is just another item on the CCSD chopping block. Hanevold said that this could give him another decrease of 1-2 more teaching positions.

So what is the bottom line? A very likely scenario would be that MVHS loses at least four teaching positions next year, Hanevold said And he hoped that would be all.

Fortunately, Empowerment can offer some help in this matter. “Our Empowerment team believes that we can fund two teacher positions and still maintain our vision and goals,” Hanevold said. “But to stretch the dollars any thinner would result in the loss of our primary goal.”

That still leaves the school with a net loss of two teachers. Hanevold explained that would mean cutting one core instructor and one elective instructor from the staff. “At a small school like ours, losing an elective teacher probably means that we have to drop at least one program,” Hanevold said.

The dilemma then of course becomes, which one do you drop? That is when the rumors start to fly. “I’ve had parents come to me worried because they’ve heard that we are cutting the whole music program,” Hanevold said. “That isn’t true.”

But cuts may be necessary; and to decide where they should go, Hanevold explained he would have to look for the elective with the fewest number of students enrolled. Currently that is the school’s choir program.

“I certainly don’t want to cut our choir program,” Hanevold said.

“But there may be no choice. And if the cuts are deeper, then…”

Amid all of the budget gloom, however, Hanevold insists that Empowerment offers a ray of light. It gives options.

Hanevold stressed that without Empowerment the school would be immediately back to a six period day and no block schedule. This would seriously decrease educational options for students and would probably cut elective programs at MVHS even more significantly.

“Empowerment is a tremendous blessing for MVHS right now,” Hanevold concluded. “But the fact is, it alone will not preserve what we currently have.”