Judge blocks regulator from moving to shut Nevada Virtual Academy

A judge has issued a temporary restraining order to block a potential closure of the online Nevada Virtual Academy charter school until a lawsuit alleging that the State Public Charter School Authority imposed unlawful performance stipulations is decided.

The school, which filed a lawsuit in District Court last month, has a history of academic performance issues in Nevada, with its middle school and high school currently rated at two stars and three stars, respectively, on the state’s five-tier performance scale.

It’s one of two online charters that have recently gone to court to fight the authority’s attempts to either improve their academic ratings or shut them down.

Nevada Virtual’s elementary school already closed after it failed to meet academic goals spelled out in a performance-improvement agreement with the authority.

The school alleges in its lawsuit that the authority’s renewal contract contains unfair improvement measures. It requires the middle and high schools to close if they fail to attain three stars, or 50 index points, on the state’s assessment for two years in a row.

That means that the middle school could close at the end of this upcoming school year if doesn’t improve its rating for the 2018-19 school year, which has yet to be released. The high school could close as early as 2020-21 if it dips below that level.

The lawsuit takes issue, in part, with using the star ratings from 2017-18 to determine whether the school will close, as that time frame is outside the six-year renewal period that started this month.

The next hearing in the case is currently set for July 30.

Meanwhile, the State Public Charter School Authority is undergoing a shake-up with the departure of four members whose terms have expired.

Jason Guinasso, the former chairman of the board, has ended his term. He was replaced by Sami Randolph, who was appointed by Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Randolph, a former attorney for Shelby County Schools in Memphis, Tennessee, was among a handful of finalists interviewed for the authority’s executive director position earlier this year.

The authority also awaits legislative appointments to fill the seats held by Nora Luna, Jeff Hinton and Stavan Corbett — whose terms have also ended.

A new bill passed in the recent Legislative session also adds two more members to the authority to be appointed by the State Board of Education, bringing the total number of members to nine.

Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.