Clark County superintendent: Legislature’s changes in school zone safety ‘huge’
Clark County School District (CCSD) Superintendent Jhone Ebert is celebrating the passage of a bill during the Nevada Legislature’s special session to increase road safety in and around school zones, including by imposing tougher penalties for certain traffic violations.
Though education wasn’t the main focus of the special session, issues related to schools such as safety, immigration and pre-K funding were still part of the legislation that lawmakers considered.
Andrew Bennett, director of the Clark County Office of Traffic Safety, said during a Nov. 14 legislative committee meeting that nearly 200 Clark County students have been hit by a car so far this school year.
The bill (AB6) includes tougher penalties for driving violations in school zones. It’s awaiting Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s signature.
It also gives municipalities more authority over the design of school zones, and the operation times of the flashing lights that the zones are equipped with.
“The jurisdictions did not have control of the lights to have those lights changed,” Ebert said during a Friday press conference. “They needed to go to the state to get permission and then come back down. So that is a huge piece that was in that bill.”
Democratic lawmakers added an amendment to Lombardo’s crime bill (AB4) that prohibits school districts, public schools and their employees from providing certain law enforcement officers access to their campuses or facilities or sharing students’ information. Violations could result in disciplinary action.
It’s similar language to a bill that Lombardo vetoed during the regular session (AB217). The legislation came up in response to the Trump administration revoking a policy that considered schools as sensitive locations that should be off limits to immigration enforcement operations.
Ebert said the district’s school police and government relations officers had a chance to look and work on the amendment and felt comfortable with the final language.
Ebert said that immigration enforcement officials have kept their word, and have stayed off of CCSD campuses. She added that there’s no indication in attendance data that students are not coming to schools because of immigration enforcement fears.
“Please know that school is where they need to be, and we support them,” she said.
The school district took a neutral stance on the so-called film tax credit expansion bill (AB5) which had created a mechanism to bring in tax revenue for pre-K education in Clark County. The bill passed in the Assembly, but died in the Senate without the necessary votes.
Ebert explained that funding for pre-K, which is primarily made up of state allocations and federal grants, is volatile in Nevada, and she was hopeful that the bill would have provided a steadier funding stream.
“We’re going to continue to work together to try to find that dedicated funding,” she said. “The 2027 session starts in just over a year, and so we’re getting everybody together to continue to move pre-K forward.”
News briefs
🏠 Gov candidate discusses plan for property tax reform to support school funding — Alexis Hill, the Washoe County Commission chair and a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, shared details on her plan to improve Nevada’s K-12 education funding during The Nevada Independent’s IndyFest conference earlier this month.
Hill is looking to reset depreciation when a property is sold. The mechanism of depreciation provides a sort of property tax break to owners of old homes, but that benefit also carries over to new buyers of that old home — something Hill wants to end to boost property tax revenue.
Her policy plan is similar to recommendations from a panel of experts created by the Legislature to improve Nevada’s historically low per-pupil funding.
“If you decide to sell your home, or if you’re coming from another community to Nevada, you should not benefit from the depreciation that someone who has been living in that home for 30 years has enjoyed,” Hill said during the conference held at the Durango Casino & Resort in Las Vegas.
During the 2025 legislative session, Assm. Natha Anderson (D-Sparks) had sponsored a similar measure (AJR1).
Nevada is the only state to apply a depreciation formula to real estate, Anderson said at a March 27 legislative committee meeting.
AJR1 passed out of the Assembly, but was never brought up for a vote in the Senate and died at deadline.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has said he doesn’t support new taxes, and considers the recommendation of eliminating depreciation to be advice instead of mandates.
The Nevada Independent asked if Democratic Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford supports the state panel’s recommendations to adjust property tax policies as a way to boost education funding. Tai Sims, a spokesman for Ford’s campaign for governor, said Ford does not support any policy that raises costs or makes it harder for Nevadans to purchase a home amid an ongoing affordability crisis.
Ford is backed by the Nevada State Education Association, which had supported Anderson’s bill to adjust property policies.
“He has a proven record of delivering for educators and students, and he’ll continue that work as Governor by responsibly funding our schools, investing in teachers, and guaranteeing school meals to all public school students,” Sims said in a Friday statement.
💼 White Pine County School Board picks new superintendent — The White Pine County School District’s board of trustees has selected Ely elementary school Principal Angie Angelopoulos as the next superintendent after its current leader, Adam Young, retires in June.
Angelopoulos was among the eight candidates that the board interviewed at its Nov. 7 meeting.
Angelopoulos has been the principal of David E. Norman Elementary since 2022, where she’s helped advance the school’s science, technology, engineering, art and math academy, and the district’s director of testing since 2017. She started her career in the Washoe County School District in 2000.
Reading assignments
Nevada high school graduation rate jumps above 85 percent for class of 2025
Twelve of Nevada’s 17 school districts had graduation rates higher than the state average of 85.4 percent.
Lombardo launches center to help districts prepare for stricter accountability measures
The new center comes as state officials are developing a new framework to evaluate the performance of school districts and charter schools as part of a 2025 bill that calls for greater school accountability.
Major Clark County teachers union endorses Republican Joe Lombardo for Nevada governor
The recent endorsement is a shift from the 2022 election cycle, when the Clark County Education Association (CCEA) declined to back Lombardo or then-incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak (D).
Extra credit
Las Vegas Sun: CCSD school board considers impact of delaying start times
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