Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo speaks during the 2023 State of the Schools address at Resorts World Las Vegas, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.
Published Monday, Feb. 6, 2023 | 4:26 p.m.
Updated Monday, Feb. 6, 2023 | 5:01 p.m.
Gov. Joe Lombardo today issued an executive order compelling Nevada’s 17 public school districts — and its public charter school authority — to submit audits identifying possible financial “deficiencies,” and is giving them less than a month to do so.
Lombardo issued Executive Order 2023-005 Monday afternoon, which will direct the Governor’s Finance Office Division of Internal Audits to work with superintendents from each district to submit external, third-party audits by March 1, according to a release by Lombardo’s office.
Clark County School District spokesman Tod Story indicated the district will comply with the order, though the audit is already an existing requirement, which makes the order unnecessary.
"We are happy to provide the information as requested by the governor's office, as this is a process and report that we share annually and transparently with our community,” he said.
After the audits are submitted, the Division of Internal Audits will prepare a report summarizing the findings of its review and identify “any deficiencies, and provide(s) recommendations to remedy the identified deficiencies,” according to the release. A final report will be submitted to Lombardo for review by Dec. 29.
The Assembly's Republican Caucus members posted a joint statement on Twitter praising the move by Lombardo to raise "accountability."
"This combined with the unprecedented increase in public school funding that the Governor announced in his State of the State address, will put Nevada's schools back on track," they stated.
Republican Assemblyman Rich DeLong added that the move would "establish an Officer of the Inspector General with independent oversight authority for auditing all of Nevada's school districts and charter schools."
The executive order comes roughly one month after Lombardo’s State of the State address, in which he listed accountability and transparency as chief priorities for public education. In his proposed budget, more than $725 million would go toward the state’s rainy day account for K-12 education.
No other detail was provided.
