A proposed bill would allow students in Nevada to choose which school they attend, regardless of their ZIP code.
Assembly Bill 533, sponsored by Education Committee Chair Selena Torres-Fossett, D-Las Vegas, would allow students to apply for schools outside of their attendance zones. It gives priority to students in the zone and requires that the superintendent of public instruction create an application and lottery process if there is room for more.
“This bill presents an incredible opportunity to ensure that more kids have more resources to access an education that meets their needs and gives them their best chance at a bright, thriving future,” Torres-Fossett said during a Tuesday hearing.
The Clark County School District and Washoe County School District have options for applying to a school within their district, but this bill would create a standard, statewide policy.
Torres-Fossett and supporters of the bill, which include the ACLU, NAACP and education nonprofit Opportunity 180, hope it would help remedy disparities between schools in low-income and high-income neighborhoods and empower families.
Equitable access
Red-lining, a process of discriminatory lending practices that began in the 1930s, contributed to racially segregated neighborhoods with unequal schools that still exist today, Torres-Fossett said in her presentation Tuesday.
The number of “intensely segregated schools” nearly tripled from 1988 to 2021, according to a presentation from Halli Faulkner, senior legislative drafter with the nonprofit “yes. every kid. foundation.” She studies open enrollment policies across the country.
Torres-Fossett offered a comparison between North Las Vegas, where the average home value is $411,000, and Henderson, where it is $493,000. In North Las Vegas, 85 percent of people have a high school degree or higher and 20.4 percent have a bachelor’s degree. In Henderson, 93.5 percent of residents have a high school degree or higher, and 38.6 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
“We have to do something different,” Torres-Fossett said. “What we’re doing is not working.”
Outside of Nevada
Across the country, open enrollment policies create more equity and opportunities, Faulkner said.
Arizona has the longest-running open enrollment plan in the country, Faulkner said. She said student performance has increased in the state for both more affluent students as well as lower-income students, which she said “is pretty rare for a state.” Faulkner said a big part of that growth comes from the strength of the open-enrollment program.
Colorado also has open enrollment, and New Mexico and Oregon introduced legislation on open-enrollment this legislative session.
In Boston, students who used the open-enrollment program are majority Black and have increased attendance, lower suspension and increased graduation rates compared with denied applicants, Faulkner said.
It is also used among low-income families, Faulkner said. In Florida, over half of the 272,000 students using open enrollment are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
“As an educator, as a school leader and as a policymaker I see the potential this bill has to change lives and to change the trajectory of so many students and close the equity group for families,” Torres-Fossett said. “Today we have the possibility to take a critical step in realizing that potential and leveling the playing field for our students.”
Existing programs
In the CCSD, families can apply for a change of school assignment, known as COSA. A CCSD representative said Tuesday that while the district supports students looking at options, it was “struggling” to see the differences in its current COSA process and this piece of legislation.
Two students testified in support of the bill on Tuesday, saying that choosing their schools was what got them to where they are today.
“As a high school student, I saw firsthand the difference between attending a zoned school versus having the opportunity to attend a school that fit my learning needs and my goals for the future,” said Justin Sosa, a high school senior.
Potential pitfalls
The CCSD representative also said that COSA uses a “blind application.” CCSD disagreed with this bill’s requirement for behavior to be a factor in a student’s application.
Another hindrance for the bill could be access to transportation. The bill said that the school board of trustees can elect not to provide transportation for students participating in open enrollment, but the bill has a proposed amendment to study transportation needs to address it in the future.
Assemblymember David Orentlicher, D-Las Vegas, said he worried that a lack of transportation could disadvantage low-income families.
Torres-Fossett said that while she agreed transportation should be the goal, she said that as it stands, there was no equity. She also said that she had confidence that families would do whatever they could to get their students to a school of their choice.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.
