Should sixth-grade students remain in elementary school or graduate to Rosemary Clarke Middle School (RCMS)? What are the operational challenges and costs?

These questions and others have been studied for months by the Nye County School District administrators. An update was presented Jan. 22 to the district's trustees by Assistant Superintendent for District Services Rod Pekarek and was followed by interaction from board members.

The national trend is to have sixth-grade students remain in elementary school. However, with the prospect of significant cuts in school funding, it is of prime importance to understand the cost of current fifth-grade students remaining in their zoned elementary school to attend sixth grade.

Figures were compiled by Pahrump's five elementary school principals as well as RCMS' principal and assistant principals. They were combined with cost estimates from the school district's special education support services and departments of transportation, food services and maintenance and operations.

"You could say we've done our homework," said superintendent Rob Roberts, who is an advocate of retaining sixth-graders in elementary schools but is concerned about probable budget cuts.

"We don't know what the legislature is going to do, but we have to take a proactive approach," Robert's said. "We can't make an informed decision without knowing the costs."

Using student enrollment figures of fifth-grade students moving to sixth-grade as of December 2008, Hafen Elementary would add 73 sixth-grade students and need three additional teachers. J.G. Johnson Elementary would gain 89 students and need three additional teachers. Floyd Elementary would gain 63 students and need three additional teachers.

Manse Elementary would gain 86 students and require three additional teachers. Lastly, Mt. Charleston Elementary would gain an additional 101 students and need four more teachers.

Twelve teachers could be moved from RCMS to elementary schools and two fifth-grade teachers could be assigned to teach sixth-grade, leaving just two new teachers to be hired at an estimated cost of $130,000 to cover salary and benefits.

A total of 16 additional classrooms at the five schools would also be needed.

For special education, four teachers would be required in the five elementary schools. Three teachers would move from RCMS, leaving one new teacher to be hired at a cost of $28,000. That includes benefits and takes into consideration partial reimbursement from state funds.

Specialty teachers, for physical education, art, music and computers, are needed to provide the 20 sixth-grade teachers (16 core teachers plus four special education teachers) with preparation time.

One specialty teacher would be needed at each school, for a total of five. Two specialty teachers would move from RCMS and three teachers would be hired at an estimated cost with benefits of $195,000.

Two additional food service staff members would be necessary for three hours daily at a cost of $8,650, and two additional lunch aides would be necessary to watch children during lunchtime at an estimated cost of $21,600. It is likely Mt. Charleston would add a third lunch period.

Those additional personnel costs total $383,250.

Those costs could be offset by $274,009 in possible personnel reductions throughout the system, leaving $109,250 in the estimated additional cost of personnel for having sixth-grade students remain in elementary school.

But personnel are not the only factor.

Four modular classrooms will be needed for the additional students.

Details of that cost include moving the modulars from RCMS to new locations, building a new pad, excavating and compacting soil, installing electricity and intercom systems, adding water and sewer as needed and putting in the fire prevention systems. Each modular classroom move is estimated at a cost of $50,000 for a total of $200,000.

Good news comes from the transportation department. It is estimated that readjusting bus routes may not cost anything and could save the district up to $60,000.

The bottom line for known expenses, at this time, totals $249,250.

"That doesn't include new books," cautioned Pekarek. "That's a wild card. There are no sixth-grade books in our elementary schools and we can't move the books out of the middle school because kids in seventh and eighth grade are still using them. We're currently looking at that cost."