Ban on charter schools dropped in Nevada Legislature

Stopping new charter schools in Nevada until 2021 is no longer on the table after the substantial modification of the bill that first proposed a moratorium but now requires the State Public Charter School Authority to establish a plan for charter school growth.

Assembly Bill 462 no longer contains a moratorium on new charters, which have grown substantially over the past decade. The authority — which sponsors the largest number of charters in the state — must develop a plan that will project the number of new charter schools and campuses it will approve in five years.

Charter school sponsors must also assess the potential demographics of a planned school, a requirement aimed at giving considerable thought to diversifying the charter school population, which has fewer at-risk students than traditional public schools in Clark County. Those evaluations must be conducted each year for each charter school.

Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, which sponsored the bill, said the growth of charters requires mindful planning and oversight. That includes planning so that charter operators open in areas of need.

“The higher-performing schools have very little students of color in them,” he said. “That’s a problem.”

The bill also requires site evaluations of schools to be conducted by June 30, 2020, that will examine student achievement and school performance.

The change mostly won support from people involved in education, including the Charter School Association of Nevada and State Public Charter School Authority members who have been pushing to diversify their student population, particularly for students in poverty.

In its initial phase, charter supporters opposed the prospect of a moratorium.

“AB462 has been on quite a journey, and the bill that passed out of the Assembly represents the culmination of a great joint effort between Chairman Thompson, the public charter school community and legislators on both sides of the aisle in the Assembly Education Committee,” said Melissa Mackedon, a member of the State Public Charter School Authority and principal of a charter school.

Meanwhile, an Assembly bill to abolish the Achievement School District charter school initiative was heard again in the Senate. Instead, charters that are part of the achievement district will come under the purview of the State Public Charter School Authority.

Assembly Bill 78 would also require the Department of Education to review every charter school sponsor once every three years and add two members to the authority who will be appointed by the State Board of Education.

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