Clark County School District bill headed to Nevada governor

CARSON CITY — With a unanimous vote from the Nevada Senate, the Clark County School District reorganization bill is headed to the desk of Gov. Brian Sandoval.

The vote came in just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, gaining approval from the second house as lawmakers worked to meet a midnight deadline to pass bills out of the first house. Sen. Michael Roberson, one of the sponsors, thanked Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford for working with him on the bill.

“This is probably the best bill of the session,” said Roberson, R-Henderson.

Roberson and Ford were joined by Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson and Assembly Minority Leader Paul Anderson in sponsoring the bill.

The bipartisan, bicameral bill cleared passed the Assembly on April 14 with a 40-2 vote. Assembly members Maggie Carlton and Richard Carrillo, both Las Vegas Democrats, voted no.

Sandoval is expected to sign the measure into law this week. A trailer bill may be follow to address monetary concerns voiced by school district officials, although no bill has been introduced.

The bill follows up on the 2015 law that mandated the state’s largest school district decentralize and flow more decision-making power into the individual schools. The 2017 bill takes the regulations developed after the 2015 law was passed and writes those into statute, further cementing the process.

Other action

Lawmakers also moved forward on a number of other education-related bills Tuesday, including an Assembly vote changing how teachers are evaluated and the Senate approving a measure to strengthen the rights of student journalists.

Senate bills moved to the Assembly include:

• Senate Bill 107 passed 21-0. The measure would allow districts to incorporate diversity and ethnic studies.
• Senate Bill 322 passed 20-1. The measure would incorporate civics questions into an exam students must take to graduate high school. Sen. Joseph Hardy, R-Boulder City, dissented.
• Senate Bill 369 passed 42-0. It would create a climate survey to help measure engagement in schools.
• Senate Bill 420 passed 21-0. The measure would strengthen protects for high school and college journalists.

Assembly bills moved to the Senate include:

• Assembly Bill 77 passed 37-5. It would change the teacher license process.
• Assembly Bill 188 passed 27-15. It would decrease the required credit hours needed to partake in the Silver State Opportunity grant from 15 to 12.
• Assembly Bill 292 passed 31-11. The measure would require principals to notify parents when the principal will interview a student alleged to be involved with bullying.
• Assembly Bill 312 passed 39-3. The measure would require the state to study the optimal student-teacher ratio. The bill initially gave teachers high marks on the teacher evaluation framework if their class size was larger than the current limits. It was amended to become a study.

• Assembly Bill 320 passed 27-15. The measure drops state testing data from teacher evaluations. Instead, 20 percent of the overall evaluation will be based on local student tests and the rest based on an observation.

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.