Proposed bill calls for appointing some school board trustees

Lt. Gov. Lisa Cano Burkhead announced Thursday that she filed a bill draft request ahead of the 2023 legislative session that would allow for at least one appointed member on each Nevada school board.

The proposal calls for each county commission to appoint the school board president, according to a news release.

Each incorporated city with more than 75,000 residents also would appoint an additional trustee to its county’s school board.

“When I accepted my appointment, I told Nevada families that it is my mission to be a voice at the table for students, parents and educators,” Cano Burkhead said in the release. “Today, I’m putting those words into action and submitting a path to professionalize and modernize our school boards so that we have more education experts to act in the best interests of our students.”

Cano Burkhead, a Democrat, was appointed to the lieutenant governor position in December by Gov. Steve Sisolak. She’s running for the seat in the November election against Republican Las Vegas Councilman Stavros Anthony, nonpartisan candidate Trey Delap and two other candidates, Independent American Party candidate Bill Hoge and Libertarian candidate Javi Tachiquin.

Anthony said Thursday that he had not seen the announcement and could not comment.

Delap said he has some questions about the bill.

He cited the complexity of the process of getting a bill drafted, and also noted he is the lone candidate in the race “who has ever had any legislative experience,” he said in response to a Review-Journal request for comment.

“Drafting a bill isn’t the easiest thing to do, and I think, looking at the bill draft request, it was filed on on Sept. 1 and the details of what’s being requested are just not there,” Delap said.

He also said that “the timing of the release of the bill just before early voting, that’s interesting.”

Cano Burkhead’s proposal seeks to add four trustees to the Clark County School Board — the president appointed by the Clark County Commission and one trustee each selected by the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas.

On Thursday evening, the Clark County School District emailed a statement from Board President Irene Cepeda to the Review-Journal.

“The board recognizes the importance of professionalizing school boards. In August, the board voted to submit BDR 386,” Cepeda said in the statement. “However, the will of the voters and representative democracy should be maintained. Ultimately, we hope we can all come together in collaborative conversations to do what is best for students.”

The latest bill draft request comes amid a contentious atmosphere on the Clark County School Board in recent years.

In late August, the school board voted 4-3 to advance its own bill draft request to “establish standards and qualifications for all education-related oversight boards,” according to online meeting materials.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.