Jhone Ebert wore many different hats on her route to becoming an educator.

Waitress. Bartender. Hotel maid. Ski instructor. Raised by a single mother in Southern California, Ebert put herself through college working a variety of jobs until she obtained her mathematics degree and a teaching certificate from California State University, Fresno. Now, her education career has led to a new title she can add to the list — state superintendent of public instruction.

Gov. Steve Sisolak appointed Ebert to the role last month, bringing her back to the state where her career began. Ebert started as a teacher in the Clark County School District before moving up the ladder and eventually becoming the chief innovation and productivity officer. She left the district in 2015, after being recruited by the New York State Education Department.

Ebert said she learned a lot as the senior deputy commissioner for P-20 education policy in New York — specifically how public schools, higher-education entities, the business community and citizens can work together for the betterment of students.

“It’s a system here in New York that we don’t have in Nevada around education,” she said.

The P-20 approach — referring to everything from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education with an emphasis on workforce training — is something Ebert envisions being replicated in Nevada.

“When I was working in Clark, I had great partnerships with UNLV and College of Southern Nevada,” she said. “Beyond that, in the system as a whole, I think the relationships being more authentic, meaningful and purposeful in ways that we have joint goals are going to accelerate the system as a whole.”

Ebert is stepping into her new role in the middle of the legislative session, which is dealing with a number of high-profile education issues. She started last week.

Perhaps the biggest education battle she’ll witness this session is a forthcoming bill designed to overhaul the state’s K-12 funding formula, known as the Nevada Plan. Sen. Mo Denis, who chairs the education committee, has said the bill will address how K-12 funding is allocated throughout the state and will likely include weights, which direct extra dollars toward students with unique needs.

Ebert, who’s coming from a state that has weighted funding, said she supports the concept.

“It works well,” she said. “I don’t think there’s a school district out there that wouldn’t say that they benefit from the weights.”

Former Gov. Brian Sandoval passed a host of education reforms during his tenure that laid the groundwork for an eventual transition to weights. Zoom and Victory schools, for instance, funnel more money to schools with larger numbers of students learning English or coming from low-income homes. The extra money goes toward programming and other resources to boost those students’ academic achievement. The move to a weighted funding model, however, would ensure all English language learners and at-risk students receive those additional resources regardless of what school they attend.

Ebert said closing achievement gaps, which she attributed to “opportunity gaps,” is a top priority as state superintendent.

“The Victory schools and the Zoom schools, I think, laid a good model, and we’ve seen success with those programs,” she said. “So how do we bring those to scale across the entire state is our next challenge.”

The forthcoming funding formula bill likely won’t come with any injection of money — a situation that has irked education advocates and others who have spent the interim building momentum for more funding. Ebert said she would “definitely like to see additional funding go toward education,” but like Denis, noted the bill first aims to create an equitable distribution method.

One hurdle the state needs to clear, she said, is moving beyond the perception that school districts misuse funds. As Clark County’s former chief innovation and productivity officer, Ebert said her drive each day was ensuring resources and operations made classrooms more efficient.

“Especially in Nevada, I’ve heard over the years that the school districts won’t spend the money appropriately,” she said. “We have to get over that, being clear with the business community that the funds are spent appropriately.”

While the funding debate continues, Ebert has her eyes set on a potential outcome of more K-12 dollars — smaller class sizes. The former teacher said she would like to see class sizes reduced to 30. Ebert said class sizes generally are in the 20s in New York.

(Some classes are already under 30 students, especially in lower elementary grades, but large class sizes are a frequent complaint among teachers and students. A Clark County middle-school teacher recently wrote an op-ed describing what it’s like teaching 40 students in a science lab.)

“That is too many students to be working with day in and day out in a meaningful way,” said Ebert, who once had nearly 40 students in a class she taught. “Even though you have interactions with them, you know that when they’re in a class that large, that sometimes if they want to sit back and not be as engaged that they can.”

Ebert expressed caution about the controversial retention aspect of the Read by Grade 3 program but said she wants to “have a conversation with educators across our state” before committing to any stance on it. Lawmakers are considering a bill this session that would remove the retention mandate from that program, which seeks to ensure all students are reading proficiently by the end of third grade.

“I think we really need to take a look at each individual student and make a determination,” she said.

The lengthy education to-do list doesn’t daunt Ebert, who said her “heart is in Nevada.” Former state Superintendent Steve Canavero, who resigned in early February, frequently talked about his desire to see Nevada become the fastest-improving state in terms of education. That challenge, in part, is what drew Ebert back.

“I just really feel like right now is the time to be working in education in Nevada,” she said.