Republican former Governor and UNR President Brian Sandoval said Tuesday that he would support a measure that would formalize UNLV and the Desert Research Institute (DRI) as land grant institutions alongside UNR if the latter’s existing land grant programs are “held harmless” by the change.

Unending rules-changes, multiplying paperwork and the continuing specter of COVID-19 has meant that even as colleges and universities prepare for a “new normal” this fall, complete with increased in-person instruction, the number of international students expected to return remains far below pre-pandemic levels.

Despite revised state tax revenue projections amounting to more than $586 million over the biennium and expected billions in federal coronavirus relief, lawmakers nonetheless moved forward with approving $169 million in cuts to the state’s higher education system on Thursday.

The Nevada System of Higher Education announced late Thursday that it was in the process of drafting a mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations for students returning to college campuses this fall “with some limited exceptions.”

The subcommittee gave preliminary approval for two things — total funding of $19.8 million in each year of the upcoming biennium for entities participating in the state pre-kindergarten program as well as a methodology change for allocating those funds.

The Board of Regents voted Thursday to approve the appointment of DeRionne Pollard as Nevada State College’s eighth president, marking the end of a year-long search to replace outgoing President Bart Patterson.

Jordan Serna applied to a variety of colleges before whittling his list to two separated by some 2,500 miles — Cornell University and UNR. Now, as Serna’s senior year winds down at Advanced Technologies Academy, he’s mulling a big decision in an unusual year.

Boosting Nevada’s per-pupil spending to at least on par with the national average will cost more than $2 billion over a decade and be reliant upon property and sales tax reforms.

Sponsored by the governor’s office and presented by Sisolak’s policy director, Heather Korbulic, AB450 stops short of implementing any immediate changes. Instead, it would create an interim committee that would study workforce development programs at the state’s community colleges, as well as the role a change in governance structure could have in the way such programs — and the colleges themselves — are funded.

The Nevada Independent sat down with Whitfield to discuss some of the biggest issues facing UNLV — from the pandemic to land grant status to diversity and racism.

Faculty across the state’s higher education system are pushing for a new law this year that would expand the state’s nascent public collective bargaining infrastructure to include professors and other professional staff — a sharp break from years of control of the bargaining process by the Nevada System of Higher Education itself.

The Clark County School District plans to offer in-person learning five days a week for the 2021-2022 school year, though families can choose a full-time distance learning option if they wish.

Heavy infusions of federal funding — courtesy of three coronavirus relief packages approved by Congress — have flipped the script In Nevada schools and others across the country. Suddenly, school districts’ financial outlooks aren’t so bleak.

Almost as soon as the dust had settled on Question 1, proponents of the change had zeroed in on a likely cause for the failure: the language was too complicated for thousands of voters to understand what they were voting on.

A proposed bill that would recognize UNLV and DRI as land grant institutions in addition to UNR has renewed old divisions over perceived equity and fairness in higher education funding.

Clark County students rallied on Wednesday outside of the district administrative building demanding changes to police presence at schools, ending the use of pepper spray on students and putting more funding toward mental health resources.

Proposed legislation spearheaded by Samantha Glover, a student at the Davidson Academy in Reno, aims to change that by making feminine hygiene products available for free in middle and high school bathrooms. AB224, which received its first committee hearing Tuesday, has bipartisan support through five primary sponsors and 18 co-sponsors.

SB352 aims to eliminate barriers that prevent paraprofessionals — support staff who often work with students as classroom aides or tutors — from becoming licensed educators. The bill, which is sponsored by the Senate Education Committee, would allow paraprofessionals to continue working while student teaching.

More than half of elementary students — 56 percent — have returned to school campuses, according to school district data, but that percentage shrinks considerably for the upper grades. Districtwide, only 36 percent of students in middle and high school chose the in-person hybrid model.