An extensive overhaul of the way the Clark County (Nev.) School District operates has been officially approved.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that a bipartisan commission of 12 state lawmakers has unanimously approved regulations that set into motion a top-to-bottom reorganization of the nation’s fifth-largest school system before the start of the 2017-18 school year.
Now district administrators have a little more than 11 months to train central administrators and principals — who in turn must train thousands of teachers, support staff and parents — to operate under a so-called empowerment model that puts more control over budget, instruction and staffing decisions into the hands of individual school communities.
Clark County has more than 350 schools and 320,000 students. an additional eight elementary campuses are scheduled to open next year.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Assembly Bill 394 into law last year; it required a reorganization of the district by 2018-19.
The approved plan accelerates that deadline to August 2017.
"The language approved by the commission, passed with unanimous bipartisan support, puts the decisions that have an immediate impact in our classrooms directly in the hands of parents, teachers and principals, which is where it belongs,” Sandoval says.
Regulations required to begin the reorganization have been approved by the State Board of Education, which together with an advisory committee of nine lawmakers will provide oversight of the overhaul.
