By GINA B. GOOD

PVT

On June 1, the Nye County commissioners granted a request from the county school district for a $907,000 intergovernmental loan from the county, but it seems that loan is not going through — although not through any fault of the school district or commissioners.

A few days ago, District School Superintendant Rob Roberts spoke to Dino DiCianno, the executive director of the state’s taxation department, following up on a letter the district submitted that outlined the loan.

“He indicated to me that they would not approve the intergovernmental loan for the purpose of educational operational expenses,” Roberts said.

Previously, the commissioners turned down a loan request from the school district to use for salaries, saying the funds must be used for educational operations.

What appears to be a disconnect between county and state is leaving the already underfunded and beleaguered school district out of luck.

Specifically, the $907,000 loan granted by the commissioners included $779,000 for instructional materials and programs for math and reading. The materials are consumable workbooks that require replenishing on a yearly basis, and the money is appropriated on a school-by-school basis throughout the system by a dollar amount assigned to each student.

Instructional software from North West Evaluation Association, which supplies testing supplies for math, science and reading from first through 10th grade, cost $66,000.

Another $7,000 was to pay for the Alexandria library cataloging program that has been adopted statewide.

Library costs for books and contracts with libraries in smaller towns for a total of $55,000 was allocated at $12,000 for Amargosa, $25,000 for Round Mountain and $7,000 for Gabbs.

The cost for library books, which are a required yearly purchase to maintain Northwest accreditation at the high school level costs $1,000 each for Tonopah and Beatty High schools and $9,000 for Pahrump Valley High School.

To complicate matters, had the loan gone through, the money would have gone into the district’s general fund and a similar amount would then be freed up to use for an employee buyout fund.

The money the school district would save by offering buyouts to employees near retirement age would come in two ways.

The greatest savings for the schools would occur when an employee accepting a buyout is not replaced. That employee’s salary, the Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS, and health insurance would be saved.

The retiring employee could also be replaced by a less experienced person who does not demand as high a salary and PERS. Also, an employee could be selected from the recall list of people who lost jobs due to budget cuts and go back to work.

During the school board trustees meeting, Assistant Superintendant for District Services Rod Pekarek submitted a “Plan B proposal for discussion only” that outlines yet another possibility to offer employee buyouts.

Basically, the difference between the original buyout plan and Plan B is that PERS would be reduced from two years to one year of benefits that could be offered as service credits or cash.

“That would help somebody get from age 59 to 60, or to 30 years of service, or whatever would help that person get to their most advantageous situation …” said Roberts.

The loan was to be paid back to the county with interest earned on the Educational Endowment Fund, which was set aside from Yucca Mountain funds.

Each year, the interest from the fund is distributed to the school district. Pekarek’s plan assumes $350,000 would be distributed to the school district in interest payments.

The school district’s Chief Financial Officer Ray Richie said, “Over the last couple of years, the interest on the Yucca funds for the Educational Endowment Fund has been substantial, but we won’t know the final number until the official audit comes out for Nye County.”

Richie said he’d spoken with Dan McArthur, who audits the county books. McArthur is currently in the process of reviewing the interest allocations that have been earned on the county’s investments.

The interest money would be placed into the general fund. “Then you will have to use general fund money to offer the buyouts,” said Richie.

He added that according to the ordinance governing the endowment fund, the interest is given to the school district at the end of each year to be used for educational programs.

Trustee Mike Floyd pointed out that is exactly what the district was going to do with the loan in the first place.

While Plan B is just informational for now, and no action is pending at this time, long-time Trustee Edna Forsgren, who attended the meeting via video conference from Tonopah, summed up the topic best when she said: “By putting the money into the general fund, it sounds like we are robbing Peter to pay Paul.”