Schools Courting Vote of Nation's Burgeoning Population of Seniors

Las Vegas

Retired electrician Luis Sklar already has decided to vote against a local school-bond issue in November. At 69, Mr. Sklar says he has paid enough taxes and, besides, he doubts his money would go to good use.

"I was in a furniture store where the clerk needed a calculator to figure out a 10 percent discount," said Mr. Sklar, who moved here from New Jersey last year with his wife, Mildred. "They're not teaching them much nowadays."

But school officials here in one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation cannot afford to write off Mr. Sklar, no matter how dead set against the bond he may appear. After all, he is part of the rapidly expanding and politically...