Nevada Ranks 21st In New Education Report

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StudentsFirst, a national organization that assesses state’s education performance, just released their annual report showing each state’s ranking for education. Nevada actually ranked 21st in the nation, which is an improvement over years past. This is all according to an article released by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

However, while Nevada ranked 21st, they still received a D grade because of many of the states longstanding policies that have a tendency to put adults and teachers before the students.

According to Jim Guthrie, Nevada State Superintendent, limited school choices is one of several reasons that Nevada students have a harder time excelling. These low scores are just one of the reasons that both Guthrie and Gov. Brian Sandoval have advocated for sweeping reforms in education throughout the state.

The Governor actually signed four new reform bills into place that include revamping of teacher evaluations and consequences for unsatisfactory evaluations. One of the other reforms includes changing a 45-year-old formula used for determining the per-student funding in each of Nevada’s counties. The LVRJ article stated that Esmeralda Country receives more than $17,000 per student while Clark County only receives about a one-third of that.

There have also been two new bills introduced for 2013 that include giving parents the ability to fire school administration and shut down low-performing schools.

Nevada Charter Schools Push to Change Rules

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A number of Nevada charter schools are hoping to change several rules in the upcoming 2013 Nevada legislative session according to a recent Las Vegas Review Journal article.

Nevada charter schools receive the same funding per student as their public school counterparts.  However, Nevada charter schools are required to pay for their own facilities where public schools are not.  Clark County School District is behind the change, and they would like to see charter schools have access to public facilities.

The second rule change Nevada charter schools are pushing is in regards to the process required for students to attend online classes.   The article states that many students, especially those in rural areas, are interested in attending online classes through Clark County, but they must get approval from their own school board and Clark County in order to do so.   Clark County hopes to get that requirement removed.  

Clark County Charter Schools Fastest Growing in the Nation

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I just came across an article in the Las Vegas Sun that reported that the number of students enrolled in Clark Country grew by 64 percent from last year to this year.

In fact, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, that is the highest growth percentage for any metropolitan area in the entire country.

The article mentioned that while charter school growth was slow in the beginning, enrollment has doubled in the last 3 years as parents look for alternative education methods than the traditional public school.

While the growth is great, Nevada still has a lot of growing to do to catch up to the nation.  (For example, while Clark County and Miami-Dade County are comparative in size, Miami has 34,000 more charter school students than Clark County.)

As we continue to work with charter schools, we’re excited by the growth we’ve seen within the state.  We also know that as more embrace the charter school’s philosophies, intuition, and innovation.