By Jeniffer Solis, Nevada Current
The learning environment for Nevada’s school children is largely driven by policies and regulations determined or approved by the Nevada State Board of Education — including graduation requirements, teacher performance evaluations, and school star ratings.
If you’re unfamiliar with the state board and its duties, you’re not alone. Since it was restructured by the Nevada Legislature nearly a decade ago, the nonpartisan board has largely flown under the radar. But its policies and the direction it gives to districts can affect schools and students across the state.
Eleven people sit on the Nevada State Board of Education. Four are elected by voters — one from each congressional district. The other seven are appointed by the governor or various public bodies.
Nevada law requires the Board to develop a 5-year strategic plan to improve the achievement of students enrolled in public schools across Nevada. Part of those plans include setting standards for how schools and educators are evaluated, and establishing graduation requirements, including the number of credits needed or the types of diplomas offered by the state.
The board also guides policy development for school discipline, curriculum, class room sizes, social worker-to-student ratios, and other areas.
But those guidelines are not mandatory because the board does not control state funding levels for education, meaning they cannot provide monetary resources to help schools accomplish said goals. The board’s financial power is largely limited to setting priorities for who receives certain grants or scholarships.
That said, members can — and often do — advocate on education issues and work with state legislators on bills.
Lombardo appointment now seeking approval from voters
In District 2, which covers Northern Nevada, incumbent Angela Orr is seeking to retain her seat against challenger Paul Davis, an American government professor at Truckee Meadows Community College.
Orr was appointed by Gov. Joe Lombardo to the board of education to represent District 2 in October 2023. That vacancy was created by the resignation of Katie Coombs in July. Coombs won the seat in 2020 by default when she was the only candidate to file for the office.
Orr is the principal of Doral Academy Northern Nevada, a charter school, and has previously taught social studies and leadership. Orr was also a part time instructor in Education at the University of Nevada, Reno for nine years.
Equity of resources, student safety, and research-based learning are the central focus of her campaign, said Orr. From January through June her campaign has raised about $22,000 in campaign contributions and spent about $10,000.
Working in both Washoe County district schools and charter schools has given her a more well-rounded perspective on education that she plans to bring to the board, said Orr.
Orr emphasized that she is not a “charter school evangelist,” but believes the “fight against charters is actually a false narrative. It’s distracting us from the policies that would make all of our schools better.”
District schools often lack the resources or “political will” to make the district-wide changes needed to follow research based teaching practices, said Orr. Charter schools, which are less regulated than a traditional school, can offer a lens into what works best for students at a smaller scale, she said.
“I think that district schools could really learn from charter schools. If there was more collaboration it would better meet the needs of all Nevada students,” Orr said.
Improving Nevada student’s poor literacy rate is a top priority for her, said Orr, who plans to improve literacy rates by pushing for the adoption of “the science of reading,” a pedagogical approach that has been in vogue in the last few years and that among other things places more emphasis on phonics.
Orr said she’s seen this approach succeed in other states, and in her own classrooms at Doral Academy Northern Nevada.
“Nevada has been much slower to formally adopt the science of reading and to provide the in-depth professional learning that teachers need to shift their practice,” Orr said. “It’s not something you learn in a two day training. It’s something that you learn over time. It takes time, and Nevada, unfortunately, has not fully embraced as a state what it would be to train all k-5 teachers in this area and to make sure that they had the resources that they needed.”
Orr also advocates a more centralized curriculum in Nevada schools, which she said would make supporting and training teachers on how best to teach the curriculum more efficient. Top performing states in education have less curriculum choice than Nevada, but offer more research-based curriculum which has been shown to improve learning outcomes, Orr said.
“I do believe that districts should maintain choice over the curriculum that they use, but we currently have so many options that we can’t offer centralized support,” Orr said. “If everyone is choosing something different, then it makes it really hard to provide professional learning for teachers throughout the state.”
When it comes to student safety, Orr said she would like to see a holistic approach, including more mental health professionals and counselors on campuses, wraparound services, and social emotional learning alongside academics.
Challenger: Wake up and smell the AI
Running against Orr is Paul Davis, a professor of political science at Truckee Meadows Community College. He also taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the graduate department on international terrorism for 18 years.
Davis’ campaign has reported zero campaign contributions over the course of his campaign. Davis said he has not actively fundraised for his campaign due to his opposition to the effect of campaign financing on politics and policy.
“I will not spend a penny and I have not spent a penny,” Davis said. “I think the system is poisoned because of the lack of limitations on campaign finance.”
Davis said he’s running for a seat on the Nevada Board of Education because of his passion for education. One of his top priorities if elected is to improve Nevada’s literacy rate and implement a statewide curriculum on artificial intelligence.
Nevada schools must invest in artificial intelligence and technical education to prepare students for changing job markets, Davis said, citing statistics from the World Economic Forum about job displacement and new job creation due to AI.
“There’s new jobs. We need to teach our students technical literacy, cyber security, and sustainability, because we’re teaching students for jobs that may not even be there in the next couple years,” Davis said.
Davis called the investments and advancements in artificial intelligence “a game changer” and a “technological revolution” students must prepare for. Davis advocated for an increase in dual enrollment programs centered on artificial intelligence in high schools as a start, as well training teachers in AI.
“Technological literacy is key. There’s going to be a lot of people in our state that are going to be left behind,” Davis said. “The power of AI will transform everything.”
Davis said he would push for a comprehensive survey of the top twenty educational states, to determine which programs are the most successful, and if those programs could be implemented in Nevada on a trial basis.
