Schools budget cuts, maintenance, and salaries

On October 26, the Review Journal ran an article on school spending and the Sun ran an article on school spending. The Sun's article was about how budget cuts are taking a toll on school maintenance.

So it is with the 356 schools — more than a third over two decades old — that are cleaned, cooled and repaired by the Clark County School District.

Spread over an area the size of Delaware and Connecticut combined, the schools are at risk because of current and imminent budget cuts, depleted funds from a big construction bond and relentless Father Time amid brutal summers.

The immediate future is worrisome, said Paul Gerner, chief of school construction and maintenance. “You’ll have more roofs that leak, you’ll have more days without air conditioning and you can’t operate schools,” he said. “It’s mission critical.”

The Review Journal's article was about how the school district approved a #270,000 salary and $89,000 in various miscellaneous bonuses. He was making $225,000 in Colorado and the old superintendent made $245,000.

Critics want to know who is paying for the house Dwight Jones will soon be living in.

The Colorado education commissioner has signed a four-year contract -- worth $358,000 in total, annual compensation -- to become the next superintendent of the Clark County School District.

How can the school district spend more money when it doesn't have enough to maintain the schools? This is just another example of the waste and careless spending in the school district and the state's budget in general.

These people just think that they can spend and we the taxpayers will continue to pay more and more.

It has got to stop.