‘We Must Draw a Line in the Sand’: Inside Nevada’s New Campaign to Rescue Failing Schools
In 2015, due to years of poor academic performance leading to Nevada children being ranked low nationally across various academic measures, the legislature, which was mostly Republican, passed a set of laws with the intention of implementing every conceivable reform to address the issue. These laws included reorganizing the state’s school districts, modifying the state funding formula, expanding all-day kindergarten, and providing more support for English-language learners and students from low-income backgrounds.
However, a year and a half later, two of the most significant and contentious reforms have been put on hold. The implementation of a universal education savings account, which would have given parents control over approximately $5,000 in state funds to be used for private school tuition, tutoring, or other educational programs, was halted after the state Supreme Court ruled that the savings accounts were legal but regular public school funds could not be used to finance them. The Democrats, who now hold the majority in both houses of the legislature, have expressed no urgency in finding an alternative funding source.
Similarly, the Achievement School District, a reform that aimed to convert the worst-performing district schools into charter schools under state supervision, is also facing significant challenges. These challenges include regulatory obstacles and a federal investigation into the charter operator chosen to take over these struggling district schools. The Democrats in the state legislature, who have resumed their sessions this month, have introduced bills to completely overturn the Achievement School District.
For supporters of the Achievement School District, these setbacks mean further delays in providing better educational options for Nevada’s struggling students. However, critics believe that these setbacks offer traditional district schools more time to demonstrate their ability to turn around and improve performance.
Governor Brian Sandoval, while proposing the Achievement School District in his 2015 State of the State address, emphasized the persistently failing schools and the urgent need for intervention. Nevada has consistently ranked poorly nationally, with low high school graduation rates, low scores on national reading and math tests, and low scores on the ACT college admissions test.
The bill for the Achievement School District allows the state to take over up to six underperforming district schools annually. Elementary and middle schools statewide that fall within the bottom 5% are eligible, as well as high schools with graduation rates below 60%. The bill passed without any Democratic support shortly before the end of the 2015 legislative session.
Afterwards, officials began implementing the program by establishing criteria for identifying eligible schools and selecting Celerity, a charter management organization operating in California and Louisiana, to oversee the converted schools. By mid-December, the state Board of Education had chosen the final five schools in Clark County, including four elementary schools and one middle school, to be eligible for conversion to charter schools. Clark County is home to the fifth-largest school district in the country, and out of its 320,000 students, around 83,000 attend low-performing schools rated one or two stars.
Allison Serafin, the founder and executive director of Opportunity 180, a group aiming to bring high-quality educational options to Clark County, explained that charter school options closely align with the quality of district-run schools. Students in wealthier areas have the option to choose high-quality district schools or top-performing charter schools at all levels, but students in lower-income areas have limited access to poorly performing district or charter schools.
Since Clark County has imposed a moratorium on new charter schools, the only way to introduce high-performing options to disadvantaged students in the area is through state-led initiatives. This is why the work of the Achievement School District is crucial, as it ensures that neighborhood public schools provide excellent education while also offering families a choice, according to Serafin.
Monica Love’s daughter, Erin, attends West Prep Academy, a K-12 school. The elementary school has high test scores, and the high school had a graduation rate of 95% for the class of 2014. However, the middle school’s performance is so poor that it qualified for inclusion in the Achievement School District.
However, Love has reservations about Erin, who excels academically and is already receiving additional enrichment. Love is concerned that if Erin attends a middle school where many of her peers are behind grade level, she may become frustrated with school. Love expressed that if progress is not made, she would consider sending Erin to a different school.
Love does appreciate the concept of the Achievement School District, and she believes that something new and different does not necessarily have to be negative. She stated that if the companies partnering with the ASD have proven track records, then there should be no harm in it. Love added, "It’s not like Nevada can get any worse."
However, not everyone in the West Prep community shares the same enthusiasm for the idea. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, one high school student cried while begging an ASD official not to include West Prep in the charter conversions.
Similar situations have been unfolding throughout the district for months, and it is never a popular idea to have a state entity come in and take over. Anxiety levels rose when Clark County School District officials warned parents that up to 90 district schools could be eligible for takeover. They initiated a "school review process" in the fall, causing parents to protest at eligible schools, which gained coverage in local news.
Jamel Jones, a parent of students at Matt Kelly Elementary, one of the schools eligible for takeover, expressed frustration at a state legislative commission meeting. He stated, "Every chance we get, we come together to try to make change… For us to be put in a situation where we have to be redirected into the Achievement School District from our mission, is, I don’t know how to put it. I’m just asking and wanted to voice my petition on moving forward, giving us a chance."
Efforts to improve the ASD on a smaller scale have also continued. Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, an existing charter, requested to partner with a new operator, Democracy Prep, through the ASD. Democracy Prep is a network based in New York that focuses on civic engagement and has successfully taken over schools in New York, Washington, D.C., and Camden, N.J.
Another charter, Futuro Academy, would open under the supervision of the ASD, providing an alternative for children in a neighborhood where the district school is underperforming.
Administrative regulations that would allow for a "parent trigger" to opt into the ASD, either for full charter conversion or more modest interventions overseen by the state, were also on track. The state’s Legislative Commission, consisting of a small group of legislators from both parties who must approve executive branch regulations, was scheduled to review a revised version of the parent-trigger regulations in late January, after requesting changes to the initial proposal.
State officials aimed to create an "ASD 2.0" with these additional options, in order to achieve improvements beyond what could be accomplished through six charter conversions per year.
Brett Barley, Nevada’s deputy superintendent for student achievement, explained, "As the law was drafted, six schools a year doesn’t bring about the kind of change that we know we need to see for our kids."
The parent-trigger component was considered crucial because parent involvement is essential for genuine school transformation, according to Jana Wilcox-Lavin, superintendent of the Achievement School District. She stated that it empowers parents to fight for something, develop a plan, and rally behind it, instead of organizing against a predetermined plan, which is the typical method of parental involvement.
Lindsey Dalley, a dentist and member of a local education advisory group in Moapa Valley, planned to utilize the parent-trigger regulations. Although Moapa Valley is located about 60 miles from Las Vegas, within Clark County, it has different needs compared to the metropolitan area. The programs and directives that make sense for the district as a whole do not necessarily apply to Moapa Valley, where the percentage of English-language learners is less than 2% and the percentage of students eligible for reduced lunch is 27.5%.
“There are numerous opportunities that we can explore without increasing expenses, but unfortunately, district policies prevent us from doing so,” he stated.
According to Dalley, the Clark County district’s reorganization, which was mandated by the state, did not provide the desired autonomy for Moapa Valley residents. As a result, Dalley and others in the area intended to use parent trigger regulations to advocate for charter schools.
He added, "The changes we seek will benefit all schools and students if parents and communities choose to embrace them. Those who do not wish to pursue this route can continue as we are, which is ranked last in the nation. We refuse to settle for that."
However, progress was halted when, on January 25, just a week before the announcement of which schools would be converted to Celerity-operated charters, the reform abruptly came to an end. Federal agencies raided Celerity’s offices in Los Angeles due to investigations into alleged fraud, fiscal mismanagement, and misuse of public funds.
Following the raid, Nevada officials promptly ended their association with Celerity, thereby terminating the state takeover of any district schools for the 2017-2018 academic year. The search is now underway for a new charter operator for the 2018-2019 school year.
Although Clark County school district officials expressed relief that no conversions would occur this year, they still have concerns about the Achievement School District (ASD). They question the lack of adequate research supporting the underlying assumption that converting a school to a charter will actually improve educational outcomes for students.
A study conducted in 2015 by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University revealed that urban charter schools, on average, provide an additional 40 days of math learning and 28 days of reading learning compared to district schools. However, researchers found that in Las Vegas, charter schools, which already serve students performing below the state average, demonstrate lower levels of academic growth in math and reading each year compared to local traditional schools.
Clark County promotes its own efforts to turnaround several schools scheduled for inclusion in the ASD. Michelle Booth, the district’s communications director, told , "We are eagerly anticipating the outcomes that can be achieved when parents, staff, and students work together towards student success."
State Superintendent Steve Canavero assured state legislators in late January that the ASD should not be seen as a "referendum on the Clark County School District." He criticized district leaders for releasing a list of 90 potentially eligible schools, arguing that it generated unnecessary fear and confusion, which undermined the efforts of the Achievement School District.
Following the aftermath of the Celerity situation, the Achievement School District was left with the pending parent-trigger regulations and two charter schools.
The parent-trigger regulations would grant parents or charter operators, current or prospective, the ability to initiate a petition either to convert a school into a charter under the ASD’s supervision or to request a "performance compact" aimed at rapidly improving student achievement and school performance. The performance compact may involve designations that provide additional funds in exchange for stricter accountability standards or new leadership. Schools may also adopt evidence-based strategies or form partnerships with nonprofit organizations.
Canavero informed the state commission on January 27 that the parent-trigger regulations "offer the necessary protections and clarity for us to move forward with the Achievement School District, not as a stand-alone initiative, but as a part of a larger puzzle to improve the state’s performance and provide children with the opportunities they deserve in life."
Democratic members of the commission argued that the parent-trigger options were not part of the original legislation. They believed that if further regulations or clarification were needed, they should come from the legislature, which commenced its biennial session on February 6.
Assemblyman Nelson Araujo expressed his disappointment, stating, "It’s disheartening to be put in a position where we are asked to make a critical decision when we know that we can make an informed decision in the upcoming legislative session. We have time, and we should give this matter the careful attention it deserves."
Meanwhile, Republicans asserted that the rules would empower parents to have a greater say in their children’s education, something that legislators consistently encourage.
Sen. Michael Roberson, who chairs the Legislative Commission, emphasized the importance of supporting the regulations. He noted that the updated version of the regulations addresses the concerns raised by state lawmakers and that the Achievement School District (ASD) will proceed regardless. By blocking the regulations, those concerns will remain unanswered.
In the end, the commission was evenly split with a 6-6 vote, leading to the decision that the regulations will not be implemented.
Moapa Valley advocate Dalley expressed frustration, feeling let down and ignored. He believed that approving the regulations would have provided a great opportunity for improvement, but once again, political interests took precedence over what is best for the students.
Looking to the future, state takeover districts are facing challenges across the nation. Voters in Georgia rejected a proposal to establish such a district, and a study in Tennessee found that locally led intervention schools performed better than those taken over by the state. North Carolina is also struggling to find a suitable leader for its own state takeover efforts due to an ongoing power struggle between the Board of Education and the state superintendent.
The limited evidence available on state takeover districts makes it difficult to determine their true impact, as each district is designed differently. Ashley Jochim, a research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, believes that states must be cautious when getting involved in turnaround efforts, as they are highly political and challenging to execute. Jochim suggests that state leaders consider adopting an ASD as part of a larger reform strategy.
One positive outcome of state takeovers is the push for local reforms, as seen in Tennessee. However, Jochim cautions against viewing state takeovers as long-term solutions, as local control of schools is the prevailing ethos in the United States. For instance, Louisiana’s Recovery School District, a pioneer in state takeovers, is being dissolved as control is returned to local officials. Conversely, there is concern that reverting back to local control could undo the progress made by NOLA students over the past decade, after nearly all the schools in their dysfunctional district were converted into charters.
In Nevada, progress towards state takeovers has come to a temporary halt. With the regulations stalled and no charter operator in place for this year, the Achievement School District only has two schools – Agassi Prep, now partnered with Democracy Prep, and the new Futuro Academy. It was anticipated that at least five more schools would convert to charters, possibly more through the parent petition process.
Serafin, responsible for finding a replacement for Celerity in the 2018-19 school year, has already begun recruitment efforts, emphasizing the need to prioritize the well-being of children in Clark County, despite the disappointing news.
The implementation of parent trigger laws is currently on hold. Under Nevada law, the state education department could implement the regulations on an emergency basis with the approval of Gov. Sandoval, who has been a strong advocate for school reforms. However, these emergency regulations would only be valid for 120 days. Moreover, bills have been introduced in both the Assembly and the Senate to overturn the ASD.
During a recent visit to the Agassi campus, Gov. Sandoval expressed confidence that efforts to repeal the ASD would fail. He believes that the Agassi-Democracy Prep partnership will serve as a model for parents throughout the state.
As of now, the governor’s office has not provided any indication of whether he would approve the emergency implementation of parent-trigger regulations or veto the bills seeking to abolish the ASD.
The Nevada legislature will conclude its session on June 5th.
Disclosure: The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation funds Opportunity 180 and .
