Hundreds of Clark County charter school students could be displaced by state action
The State Public Charter School Authority approved the voluntary surrender of one Las Vegas charter school and recommended the termination of another because of financial concerns and mismanagement.
TEACH Las Vegas’ surrender and Eagle Charter School’s recommended termination were both agenda items at the authority’s monthly meeting Friday. The closures would impact around 400 children in Clark County.
In a June 6 letter to parents and faculty, school leadership with TEACH Las Vegas detailed why the school would not be open for the 2024-2025 school year. It noted the current school year’s challenges were “particularly strenuous” and said if it stayed open for another year, it would have only “delayed the inevitable.”
“We are as heartbroken as you,” the letter read. “Unfortunately, the challenges we faced in October were never fully solvable.”
In October, the school was recommended for closure and only finished the school year because of efforts from its families to stabilize school operations, the letter said.
The letter informed parents TEACH Las Vegas would be working with other charter schools in the area to transition students to a different school for the upcoming school year.
The charter school authority recommended Eagle Charter School for termination because it has failed to cure its financial notice of concern, first issued at the authority’s April 12 meeting.
Eagle Charter School received monthly Pupil Centered Funding Plans payments for its 306 students, but its enrollment was lower in the second half of the 2023-2024 school year. Lowered enrollment and consistent payments for the early enrollment numbers resulted in a $837,085 net overpayment, according to the authority.
The school did not set aside the excess funds and instead spent them on operational costs and can’t pay it back, according to the charter school authority. In July, the Nevada Department of Education will stop the payments, which are supposed to provide a basic level of financial support for each student to receive equal education opportunities.
The charter school authority required Eagle Charter to provide a budget by a June 1 deadline, which it did. But the budget had multiple areas of concern that the authority flagged.
The major concerns were lower teacher salaries, a lowered chief operating officer salary, no office staff and no social worker, which is a worry area because 26 percent of the 312 students enrolled for next year are classified as McKinney-Vento students, or youth experiencing homelessness.
“Despite this extremely high percentage of students, the budget did not contemplate a counselor or social worker,” the authority wrote in its report. “The SPCSA cannot support a school serving this population of students living in transition without properly licensed mental health professionals.”
The school has until July 21 to complete a 12-item action list which, if completed up to the authorities standards, could cure the school of its termination notice.
A final decision will be made at the charter school authority’s July 26 meeting.
Eagle Charter School and TEACH Las Vegas could not be reached for comment Monday.
Contact Ella Thompson at ethompson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @elladeethompson on X.