Jennifer Wolf’s third grade son is a vocal student with a budding interest in fairness and social awareness, she told The Nevada Independent. 

On multiple occasions, she said “he has approached his teachers to talk through situations and share his perspective on how certain classroom moments unfolded.”

Her son attends Founders Classical Academy, a Las Vegas charter school where she said teachers are eager to engage with his questions. At a private or traditional public school, “I probably would have gotten called in and heard, ‘I appreciate the independent thinking, but he’s a disrupter,’” Wolf said.

In 2024, Wolf moved two of her five children from a private school to Founders, where she now serves as president of the parent-teacher association. She said Founders’ specialized classical curriculum and smaller size made it the right choice for her family. 

Wolf’s view is increasingly popular: Enrollment in Nevada’s state charter school network is up 2.3 percentage points this year. When Nevada’s State Public School Charter Authority (SPCSA) was founded in 2011, it oversaw approximately 11,000 students. Today it oversees more than 70,000.

In addition to students new to the charter system, Clark County School District (CCSD) transferred responsibility for all six of its county-run charter schools to the charter school authority in January 2025, bringing another 5,550 students into SPCSA’s fold. That made the charter authority the second-largest school “district” in the state, behind Clark County but ahead of Washoe County. 

The majority of Nevada’s charter school campuses are run by the charter school authority, which oversees 82 schools. Washoe County School District manages 11 charters and Carson School District manages one.

Charter school enrollment rose as enrollment in traditional public schools in Clark and Washoe counties declined, by 1.5 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points, respectively. 

Kris Hackbusch, who oversees secondary education for WCSD, told The Indy that enrollment declines in Washoe County are partially attributable to declining birth rates, a trend seen in Nevada and across the country. 

“I think charters just compliment it, but it’s a national issue,” Hackbusch said. “I wouldn’t attribute the drop in enrollment specific to Clark County or Washoe County to charter schools.”

What’s driving this movement?

Leaders from both parties and at multiple rungs of government have worked to expand Nevadans’ access to charter schools. That included securing a five-year, $51 million federal grant and passing multiple pro-charter laws in legislative sessions.

Proponents say the nontraditional public schools boast superior learning environments, smaller class sizes and more specialized approaches to behavioral issues such as bullying or truancy.

The Indy reported in October that the 2024-2025 reading rates among students in state-run charter schools were nearly 12 points higher than the statewide public school average. Charter schools are one of the only school groups that has seen literacy rates increase since 2018-2019.

Federal grant helps open new schools

Charter schools are expensive, tricky projects to get off the ground, according to Megan Griffard, a UNLV professor of education policy. 

She said that Nevada’s charter schools receive the same amount of per-pupil public funding as traditional schools but do not get the same transportation funding and lack access to the local tax revenues that school districts use to maintain school facilities. 

“Costs of buildings and maintenance are astronomically higher,” Griffard explained. 

The federal grant could remove some of these barriers.

In October, the Nevada-based, education-focused nonprofit Opportunity 180 announced it won the grant from the U.S. Department of Education. At $51 million, it’s the largest U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to a Nevada nonprofit in history and is expected to be distributed to 27 new or existing charter schools. 

Nevada has received the grant once before, in 2020, when Opportunity 180 received $22 million and distributed it to 25 charter schools.

An October celebration of the federal money was held at Vegas Vista Academy, a charter school that received one of the grants in 2020. State leaders at the event touted charter schools as a powerful tool for underserved communities.

“No kid should suffer because of where they live or how much money they make,” said Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican. 

“Every child deserves a quality education, and every parent deserves a choice … and that’s not an either-or. That’s all of the above,” said Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV), a Democrat.

Lee said charter schools “are addressing children in at-risk neighborhoods” and “meeting a critical need in our state.”

But some critics argue charter schools create a facade of success by serving students from better-resourced families.

“Charter schools love to compare themselves and never correct for demographic differences,” said Chris Daly, a spokesperson with the state’s teachers’ union, the Nevada State Education Association. 

Data from this year shows students in state-run charter schools have a similar racial composition to the statewide student population, but are less likely to require individualized education programs, be English learners or qualify for free lunch. 

Nearly 86 percent of Nevada’s public school students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, compared to only 64 percent among charter school students.

Charter school advocates argue that demographic disparities are proof of why charter schools should expand their reach.  

Griffard said public funding limits have made charters “proxies for private schools” in some of Nevada’s wealthier neighborhoods. She said she hopes the statewide open enrollment system, approved by the Legislature this year, will provide families with options regardless of ZIP code. 

“There is an opportunity here to have great strides made for all kids,” said Griffard. “Which is really what we want.”

Tam Shear, the chief executive officer of Opportunity 180, said 89 percent of the schools that received money from the 2020 grant met or exceeded their district’s proportion of at-risk students, defined as students who are economically disadvantaged or have a disability. 

This time around, Opportunity 180’s is aiming to reach the 90 percent threshold.

State support of charter schools

Along with new federal investments, a handful of new state laws have aimed at boosting access to charter schools.

In 2023, the Legislature passed AB400, enabling cities and counties to apply to become sponsors of charter schools. Prior to that law, only the state agency, school districts and colleges could sponsor charter schools. 

The state Department of Education approved Henderson and North Las Vegas as charter school sponsors in 2024. 

Tara Phebus, who manages the City of Henderson’s education initiatives, said city leaders grew more interested in education policy after hearing parents complain about Clark County schools. Although Henderson already has more than a dozen charter schools, Phebus said the city believed it would better serve Henderson families to authorize schools itself.

Opening charter schools outside of the state agency’s purview avoids some state guidelines, Phebus said, including a requirement that proposed charter schools open in ZIP codes with underperforming traditional public schools (meaning 1 or 2 stars on the 5-star scale used by the state). 

Phebus argued that avoiding such rules will enable Henderson to expand educational opportunities without restrictions on where schools are built. “That’s kind of the point of charter schools, is innovation,” she said.

Henderson and North Las Vegas received multiple applications this year for new charter schools, but the only one approved was Kesher Academy, a Hebrew dual-language school that will open its doors in Henderson in 2026. 

Representatives of North Las Vegas declined to comment for this article.

Griffard, the UNLV professor, expects that the cities’ newfound sponsor status will boost enthusiasm for charter schools in their area but warned that this was a double-edged sword. 

“I just hope that Henderson and North Las Vegas are prepared for not only authorizing the schools, but also helping them navigate challenges,” she explained, citing recent examples of Las Vegas charter schools that closed due to financial mismanagement and recruitment difficulties. 

Along with Kesher, two SPCSA-sponsored schools will open in 2026, meaning more than 300 brand-new charter school seats will be available to Nevada families next year.

Authorized cities cannot approve new charter schools unreservedly, though. AB400 set limits for how many students can be enrolled in city-sponsored charter schools, tying it to the school district population. The share of seats offered at city-run charters can be no more than 7 percent of the city’s total public school enrollment. Phebus told The Indy that Henderson and Clark County demographics mean the city would be limited to creating 2,800 charter school seats. 

The state’s charter agency does not have the same restrictions on seats.

Expanding transportation access

The state Legislature has also moved to make charter schools less expensive to operate and more accessible.

Charter schools are ineligible for the transportation funding sent to traditional public schools. State legislators dedicated $14 million toward charter school transportation in 2023 and another $17 million in 2025.

Sage Collegiate Public Charter School, a K-8 charter school in Las Vegas, was “one of the first schools” to take advantage of transportation money last year, according to Executive Director Sandra Kinne. It was also one of the schools that received funding from Opportunity 180’s federal grant money.

The school, a Title I institution, now has two bus routes. 

“We are still paying a little bit out-of-pocket for the buses, just because what we were allotted by the grant is not sufficient enough for the totality of the year,” Kinne stated. “Additional funding for transportation would be a real game changer for a lot of the charters.”

She said the lack of facilities funding for charter schools also requires Sage Collegiate to dedicate some per-pupil funding toward rent payments, creating further financial strain.

In 2025, the Legislature also approved $38 million in additional pay for charter school teachers, who were left out of a 2023 law raising pay for public educators statewide. 

“Compensation is always a struggle for us,” said Rodney Saunders, the executive director of Doral Academy, a K-12 charter school network with five Clark County campuses. Saunders said Doral is able to match starting salaries for public school teachers, but that as teachers pursue master’s degrees they qualify for pay raises, something charters cannot afford. 

“Being included this year in the teacher raise bill was very beneficial,” Saunders said. “It really comes down to money.”

This article was corrected on 12/02/2025 at 3:50p.m. to include the first name and title of Tam Shear, the chief executive officer of Opportunity 180.