Sheila Moulton, who has lived in Las Vegas since 1978, says the state of the local education system hurts her heart. 

As a former Clark County School District trustee, Moulton says she's dismayed by the system’s trajectory, saying it has become plagued by division and conflict. 

That includes tension between district leaders, the school board and lawmakers. In 2021, the board voted to fire and later rehire former Superintendent Jesus Jara. In 2023, Jara faced multiple calls for his resignation or termination including from Democratic legislative leaders, for his handling of teacher contract negotiations. 

In 2020, Moulton and six other former trustees formed the A Better Choice political action committee. One of the PAC’s goals is to encourage people in supporting, electing and holding accountable its trustees. She said this is particularly important as the board is in the middle of its superintendent search. 

“I just know we all have to work together, and we have to unify,” she said. 

Moulton was one of the attendees at the fourth community listening session of the Nevada Democracy Project — an initiative focused on civic engagement and community conversations, produced by The Nevada Independent and Vegas PBS.  This latest session, focused on education issues and election questions, was held Thursday at the East Las Vegas Community Center.

Attendees expressed concerns about everything from Nevada’s education system to local infrastructure and increasing political polarization. 

Randy Robison, who works as the City of Las Vegas’ director of government and community affairs, said he was concerned about the state of democracy and whether Americans have lost sight of the purpose and role of their government. 

“They can't be all things to all people, that they can't solve every problem … it takes all of us getting involved,” he said. 

Amy Ferreira, a Las Vegas judicial candidate, encouraged voters to pay attention to down ballot races including school board and judicial races.

“What I always tell people is the people at the bottom of the ballot affect your day-to-day more than anybody at the top of the ballot ever will,” she said. “So I think it's really important that we make educated decisions about who we want to represent us.” 

Watch the full listening session here: