Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Charter school moratorium scrapped, allowing Nevada bill to advance

CARSON CITY — A state legislative panel passed an education bill Thursday after the measure was stripped of a provision that would have put a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools in Nevada.

The original bill sought to prevent school district officials and others from approving an application to form a charter school until 2021.

Amendments to the bill removed that section. Instead, a change to the bill would require the State Public Charter School Authority to prepare a plan that includes the status of charter schools and a five-year projection on charter school growth.

Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson presented the legislation earlier this month at a committee hearing, saying the bill is not intended to displace or remove children from their current charter school.

"There are many states that are being very reactive right now because they didn't take the time to have the tough conversation and to ensure that their charter school community was as viable, as sustainable and as performance-based as possible," he told lawmakers.

Lawmakers from both parties on Thursday thanked Thompson for being collaborative on the bill. The idea for a moratorium ran into opposition during the bill hearing earlier this month.

Republican Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen described the moratorium as unreasonable and said the charter schools are delivering a quality education.

"We're bursting at the seams in a lot of school districts, and I see the charters as a way to ease some of that capacity," she said, arguing the demand is so great that many charters schools are on a lottery basis.