As enrollment in the Clark County School District’s urban core deteriorates, the Las Vegas Valley’s suburbs are undergoing their own demographic shift that is propelling steep enrollment drops.
The number of white students in the district has nosedived by over 30,000 since the 2015-16 school year, far more than any other reported race or ethnic group. The second greatest decline in the school district is among Hispanic students, with 5,674 fewer than 10 years ago.
Schools in the outer-valley suburbs with historically high white student populations appear to be bearing the brunt of this demographic change, Nevada Department of Education data shows.
DISTRICT IN DECLINE
Rick Baldwin, the district’s director of comprehensive planning, said some of the drop in the district’s white student population is linked to changes in county birth trends.
Total births by white mothers in Clark County have plummeted to roughly 6,000 in 2024 from over 10,000 in 2000, according to data obtained from the Southern Nevada Health District. In the same time span, births in Clark County increased among mothers identified as Hispanic, Black, Asian or Pacific Islander and mothers whose race or ethnicity was listed as “other/unknown.”
Baldwin said that, while the number of white students in the district has fallen, it hasn’t necessarily been because they are finding education elsewhere. Instead, he said, fewer babies being born in Clark County has given the school district fewer students it can enroll.
‘You can’t buy a Ferrari on a Fiat budget’
No school may be more affected by this shift than Green Valley High School. White student decline has driven the northwest Henderson school’s enrollment dip, falling to 742 this school year from 1,357 in the 2015-16 school year.
Green Valley High School has 483 fewer students now than 10 years ago and is expected to lose another 315 students over the next five years. Only meager increases in the high school’s Hispanic and Black student populations have helped bolster Green Valley’s enrollment count while it dwindled.
Kent Roberts, Green Valley High School’s principal of 12 years, is keenly aware of local and national population trends.
A shrinking school budget caused by enrollment losses has led Green Valley to cut a handful of teaching positions in the core subject areas of English, math, science and social studies, he said.
“Anytime that we’ve ever had to make cuts, it usually comes in those areas, but it doesn’t change the delivery of instruction or the quality of instruction,” Roberts said. “It’s still one teacher in front of 30 kids or 35 kids. It’s just, instead of 12 sections of English 12, there’s 10.”
In order to keep the school’s budget balanced, Green Valley typically does not fill teaching positions after an educator retires or leaves.
Despite shrinking coffers, Roberts said, Green Valley’s programs have continued to succeed. On calls with out-of-state families who want to enroll, he touts the school’s award-winning extracurricular activities.
But more financial support from the state, he said, could produce even better programs.
Anytime that we’ve ever had to make cuts, it usually comes in those areas, but it doesn’t change the delivery of instruction or the quality of instruction. It’s still one teacher in front of 30 kids or 35 kids. It’s just, instead of 12 sections of English 12, there’s 10.
Among all states, Nevada ranked 47th in the country for per-pupil expenditures in the 2023-24 school year, according to the most recent rankings from the National Education Association. CCSD received an adjusted base rate of $9,501 per pupil this school year and is expected to get $9,572 per student next school year.
Roberts, who has worked at schools in Kansas, Arizona and Texas, said “Nevada is the one that could do a better job of supporting its educational outcomes.”
He reminisced about the two years after the pandemic, when Green Valley had deeper pockets as a result of decreased spending after a year of online learning.
“That was the first time that I’d been in Nevada where I felt like, hey, we’re properly funded,” Roberts said. “It was just a really positive experience for those couple of years, and then belts got tightened again.”
More money, he said, could help Green Valley improve student success with before- and after-school programs and reduced student-to-teacher ratios, which would allow teachers to give more individualized attention to their students.
“You can’t buy a Ferrari on a Fiat budget, and I think sometimes people expect that,” Roberts said. “I think we come about as close to that as any public school, but it sure would be a lot easier if the funding always matched the expectations.”
Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.
