KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasLast Day for Superintendent Carlos Garcia

Last Day for Superintendent Carlos Garcia

Contact Reporter Edward Lawrence

After five years on the job as the top man at the Clark County School District, Superintendent Carlos Garcia went to his office for the last time Friday. He's taking a job in private industry. The educational books on his shelves have been packed. All of his pictures are gone.

Garcia used his last day to reply to email messages of congratulations. Garcia says, "What will be nice is having a private life. The public has been wonderful. I kind of view this as calling time out."

For 30 years Garcia worked in public education. He starts as Vice President of Marketing for publisher McGraw-Hill July 18th.

Friday, he looked back and reflected about the image he leaves behind. "We created an open environment where we are willing to admit what is wrong. We're willing to show our warts and say we blew it here and fix it."

One area does bother him. He intensely lobbied state lawmakers over his tenure. He says the legislature grossly under funds education and he couldn't change the mindset. Garcia adds, "So what are we waiting for. I think that our state likes to do things on the cheap end. On the cheap end on the long run all of us are going to pay and a lot more."

Overall student test scores remained around the 50th percentile in the nation. Garcia does not mince words when he talks about those scores. He says they are adequate, but with more money students would have performed better. Garcia says the problem rests in class size. At the current funding middle and high school teachers have 35 to 40 kids in one class.

Garcia says, "Unfortunately no one wants to bite the bullet. Even just to bring us up to average in this state would cost $1 billion." It's a battle he'll leave to a successor.

Nevada Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins says that much of Garcia's criticism is correct. But, he says, it's not all about money. Perkins says there needs to be educational reforms that lower administrative costs. He adds that more of the school's budget needs to go to the classroom.