When Gov. Joe Lombardo delivered his State of the State speech in January, he didn’t mention past pro-school choice rallying cries such as the  Opportunity Scholarship or Education Savings Accounts programs.

Rather, he talked about open zoning — the policy of allowing students to attend a school other than the one they are assigned, or zoned for, based on their address.

It’s a concept that exists with some limitations across the state already, and has proponents on both sides of the aisle. But skeptics have also raised concerns about transparency, how practical it is for students to choose a different school they can’t walk to and whether it detracts from the broader goals of ensuring all schools offer a high quality education. 

Lombardo’s bill hasn’t been introduced yet, and his office did not respond to requests for information about how his idea differs from current open zoning rules, although his staff has said it would focus on students from 1- or 2-star schools who want to transfer to a different school setting such as private schools. It continues Lombardo’s commitment to expand school choice in Nevada after failing to deliver on a promise in 2023 to grow a scholarship program for private school seekers supported by state tax credits, and may be easier for Democrats to support. 

Lombardo said he believes “no child should be trapped at a failing school because of their ZIP code” and wants to provide “transportation support.”

“Every parent deserves the freedom to find the best educational setting for their child — no exception,” he said in his address. 

On the other side of the political aisle is a bill sponsored by Assm. Selena Torres-Fossett (D-Las Vegas) that would create a standardized zoning policy statewide — current policies vary widely by district —  and require more transparency around transfer acceptances and denials. 

Torres-Fossett said in a Friday interview she wants every student to have access to high quality education at public schools, but unlike Lombardo does not support the privatization of schools. 

“I know that parents will do what they have to do to provide for their children, and so this is an opportunity for the parents to have a little bit more say in where their kid is going to school,” she said of her bill, which is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday. 

However, similar bills to expand open enrollment in Nevada haven’t found much success in the Democrat-controlled Legislature. That includes a bill brought by a Democratic former lawmaker who suspects it may have failed because people associated it with school choice measures they oppose. Lombardo also agreed to strip out a section of his 2023 education omnibus bill, AB400, that dealt with open enrollment as part of a deal with Democrats. 

Here’s a look at how open zoning policies currently work in the state and what Lombardo and lawmakers are looking to do this legislative session:

Statewide policy

Nevada law allows school boards to divide their districts into zones and assign which schools a student should attend based on where they live. The statute leaves the door open for students to attend different schooling options such as public charter schools, which like district schools are publicly funded and free to attend, or opt for private schools, microschools, online school and more. 

Nationally, 18 states and the District of Columbia require intradistrict open enrollment — the policy of allowing students to attend a district school other than the one they are zoned for provided there’s space available. Nevada is not one of them, according to the Education Commission of the States, an education policy nonprofit. 

Many Nevada school districts, including in Clark and Washoe counties, do offer intradistrict open enrollment but with some limitations.

Nevada school districts give first priority for students who are zoned for a school before allowing other students to apply to attend, and typically don’t provide transportation for the student to go to the new school. 

That’s been a sticking point in the past — critics have noted that students who can’t find their own rides are functionally unable to attend a school of their choice. 

A 2023 bill to expand open zoning, sponsored by former Assembly Education Committee Chair Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (D-Las Vegas), received a 10-2 vote in committee with now Sen. Angie Taylor (D-Reno) and Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) voting against it because of equity concerns as the bill did not require transportation for students. The bill failed to make it to the Assembly floor for a vote. 

“I think people misunderstood it,” Bilbray-Axelrod said of her bill. “For me, when people talk about school choice, that isn’t just vouchers and Opportunity Scholarships … but I don’t think I could break through the noise.”

Fairness and transparency concerns

Clark and Washoe school districts have updated their policies in the last four years to shift away from the practice of principals accepting or denying non-zoned students on a case-by-case basis. Instead, parents can now apply through the district’s website. Neither district allows for an appeal.

The districts’ websites list the names of schools that have open seats, but don’t specify how many slots are available at each school or what grade they are for. The districts use a lottery system if the number of applications exceeds the number of open seats at a school and give an additional weight in the lottery to students who have a sibling(s) already attending the desired school. 

The Washoe County School District’s (WCSD) school of choice policy also gives additional weight to a student whose parent works at that school. In the Clark County School District (CCSD), students may attend the school where their parents work regardless of seat capacity. A handful of states such as California and Colorado have policies that prioritize students from low-income households or are zoned for low-performing schools.

Smaller school districts such as those in Nye, Elko and Douglas counties have distinct policies for students looking to move within the district. Districts such as those in Carson City, Douglas and Lyon counties also allow students from different school districts, even those in neighboring states, to apply to go to their schools. 

In the Clark County School District, families can apply for a Change of School Assignment (COSA) form in order for their student to attend a different district school. 

The district adopted the COSA process in 2021. Under the previous process, families had to request permission from the principals of their home school and their desired school who would accept or deny their request after considering the reason for the request, the total number of requests the school has received and how the request could shift the enrollment and racial and ethnic diversity at both schools.

Rebecca Dirks Garcia — a parent and administrator of the popular CCSD Parents Facebook group — said in a Monday interview some families felt this policy allowed principals to be biased in favor of high-performing students, students with connections to the school or involvement in certain activities. 

Families remain split on the newer COSA process. Dirks Garcia said some families would prefer to have the option to plead their case to the school’s principal, rather than placing their hopes in a randomized lottery system. Another complaint is that there are often more applicants than the number of seats available at a school, leaving families of students who don’t get accepted to their school of choice disappointed. 

“So while COSA is more restrictive in the sense that if there's no space available, you can't even apply, which has been frustrating for a lot of families,” Dirks Garcia said. “At least in most cases, the feedback I've received is that parents feel like good or bad, at least it's a lottery.”

This school year, CCSD received more than 16,000 change of school assignment applications out of a student body of about 300,000, according to a 2024 report obtained through a public records request. Close to 13,000 of those applications were granted, and about 1,300 were incomplete or withdrawn. 

Last school year, WCSD received more than 1,500 school of choice applications out of about 60,000 students with 90 percent of applicants being placed at their top preferred schools.

The districts also offer other school choice options such as career and technical academies, magnet schools or programs that offer specialized curriculum such as performing arts or prepare students for careers such as culinary arts, teaching and cyber defense. 

Proposed changes

A spokeswoman for Lombardo did not respond to requests for comment sent last week on what the governor’s proposed bill on open enrollment would do differently. 

During a January budget committee meeting, Lombardo’s Chief of Staff Ryan Cherry said the goal of the coming legislation is to allow students in persistently underperforming one- and two-star schools to be eligible to transfer to other public, charter or approved private schools if there are seats available. The proposed bill would define an underperforming school as a school that has maintained a 1- or 2-star rating on the state’s 5-star scale for three or more years. 

Cherry said under the bill, state dollars would be allocated to the Nevada Integrity in Academic Funding Program to allow eligible students to attend state-approved private schools. He said those private schools would have to follow certain requirements such as a non-discrimination policy to be eligible for the program, which would be overseen by the state’s treasurer’s office. 

He did not specify how students would be able to use those funds, such as for tuition or transportation to the schools, or how much transportation would cost. Lombardo has proposed to allocate $17 million in one-time funding for charter school transportation, $3 million more than he allocated for the previous two-year budget cycle. 

Torres-Fossett, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, questioned why the governor was looking to facilitate students’ transfer to other schools rather than helping struggling schools close their achievement gaps. 

“If you have two students that can be transferred to a different school, that’s not going to address the actual issue,” she said during the committee meeting in January. 

Cherry said there are proposals within the bill to address that concern, and described the plan as an accountability measure.

Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop (D-Las Vegas) noted that there aren’t many school options available in smaller school districts in rural areas. 

“So if you have one elementary school, and it's 1- or 2-star, you can't just say, ‘Oh, go to another school.’ because there isn't another school,” Dondero Loop said. “You're going to have to invest in that school in a small community.”

Torres-Fossett is sponsoring her own open enrollment bill, which was introduced last week. AB533 directs the state superintendent of public instruction to create a standardized open enrollment process, including an appeals option, and track data such as the number of students that apply, how many were approved and denied and the reason for the denials. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday. 

Dirks Garcia is supportive of those concepts.

“So few families feel like districts are fully transparent, and if there's no opportunity to appeal, it reinforces that perception, whether it's real or not, that there is bias, that there is some sort of way that people are skirting the system or people are getting picked over another and it's not truly a lottery,” Dirks Garcia said.

Torres-Fossett’s bill prevents school officials from taking personal factors into consideration such as a student’s current address, academic performance, their extracurricular involvement, whether a student has a disability or is an English Language Learner.

Opportunity 180, an education-focused nonprofit, is also in support of Torres-Fossett’s bill. The nonprofit’s Director of Advocacy and Public Policy Anthony Curry said AB533 has the components of a strong open enrollment policy and the data collected under the bill can inform future discussions, including about transportation.

“In places where this is really thriving like Arizona or Colorado, where they have hundreds of thousands of students using these programs, they didn’t have transportation initially, but as it became popular, the states grew into that,” Curry said.