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- 83rd Session (2025)
Assembly Bill No. 533–Committee on Education
CHAPTER..........
AN ACT relating to education; authorizing a pupil to attend a public
school outside the zone of attendance the pupil is otherwise
required to attend in certain circumstances; requiring the
Department of Education to establish a program to award
grants of money for the purpose of providing transportation
to such pupils; and providing other matters properly relating
thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law: (1) authorizes the board of trustees of certain school distri cts to
zone the school district and determine which pupils must attend each school; and
(2) allows pupils to attend certain schools despite the zoning decision of the board
of trustees of the school district. (NRS 388.040) Section 2 of this bill authorizes a
pupil to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is
otherwise required to attend if the public school is not at capacity in the grade level
of the pupil and the pupil receives approval to attend the school. Section 2
additionally: (1) requires the board of trustees of each school district to adopt
policies and procedures governing the attendance of pupils at schools outside the
zone of attendance that such pupils are otherwise required to attend; (2) requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a process to review such policies
and procedures; (3) provides certain requirements governing the application process
established by a school district, including, without limitation, various factors that
may not be considered when determining whether to approve an application; (4)
sets forth the process for the parent or legal guardian of a pupil who submits an
application to appeal certain decisions regarding the application ; and (5) requires
the Superintendent of Public Instruction and each school district to publish certain
data concerning vacancies at each public school on the Internet website maintained
by the Department of Education and school district, respectively. Section 1 of this
bill authorizes the board of trustees of a school district that furnishes transportation
to pupils to elect not to provide transportation to a pupil who attends a public
school outside of his or her zone of attendance pursuant to section 2. Additionally,
section 2 authorizes the board of trustees of a school district to accept gifts and
grants to carry out certain provisions of section 2.
Section 1.5 of this bill requires the Department, to the extent that money is
available, to establish a program to award grants of mone y to organizations or the
parent or legal guardian of a pupil for the purpose of providing the pupil with
transportation to attend a public school located outside the zone of attendance that
the pupil is otherwise required to attend . Section 1.5 additionally requires the
Department to adopt regulations as necessary to carry out the program.
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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. NRS 386.790 is hereby amended to read as follows:
386.790 1. As provided in this title, the board of trustees of
any school district may furnish transportation for all resident
children of school age in the school district attending a public
school, including pupils assigned to special schools or programs
pursuant to NRS 388.417 to 388 .469, inclusive, or 388.5251 to
388.5267, inclusive:
(a) Who are not excused from school attendance by the
provisions of this title; and
(b) Who reside within the school district at such a distance from
the school as to make transportation necessary and desirable.
2. When the board of trustees of a school district whose
population is less than 100,000 furnishes transportation for pupils
attending public schools pursuant to subsection 1, the board may
also provide transportation for all resident children of school age in
the school district attending private schools not operated for profit,
over bus routes established for pupils attending public schools. If
such transportation is provided, the pupils attending such private
schools must be transported, if space is available, to and from the
points on the established routes nearest to the schools which they
attend.
3. The board of trustees of any school district may:
(a) Establish bus routes.
(b) Make regulations governing the conduct of pupils while
being transported.
(c) For the safety of pupils being transported, govern the
conduct of drivers by making and enforcing regulations not
inconsistent with regulations of the State Board of Education or with
law.
4. If the board of trustees of a school district furnishes
transportation pursuant to this section, the board of trustees may
elect not to provide transportation to pupils who attend a public
school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwi se
required to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2 of
NRS 388.040.
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Sec. 1.5. Chapter 388 of NRS is hereby amended by adding
thereto a new section to read as follows:
1. The Department shall, to the extent that money is available
for this purpose, establish a program to award grants of money to
organizations or the parent or legal guardian of a pupil for the
purpose of providing the pupil with transportation to attend a
public school located outside the zone of attendance that the pupil
is otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of
subsection 2 of NRS 388.040.
2. A pupil who uses transportation provided by the recipient
of a grant of money awarded pursuant to this section shall notify
the Department if the pupil transfers to another school.
3. An applicant who receives a grant of money pursuant to
this section shall not use the grant for any purpose other than
providing eligible pupils with transportation to and from a public
school located outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is
otherwise required to attend.
4. The Department shall adopt regulations:
(a) Prescribing the requirements to apply for and receive a
grant through the program established by this section.
(b) Establishing the eligibility criteria for pupils for whom
transportation may be provided through a grant, including,
without limitation, that:
(1) The pupil lives in the zone of attendance for a public
school that received, in the immediately preceding school year,
one of the two lowest ratings of performance pursuant to the
statewide system of accountability for public schools; and
(2) The pupil attends a school district which has elected not
to provide transportation to pupils who attend a public school
outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required
to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2 of NRS
388.040 and no other viable form of transportation is available to
the pupil.
(c) Necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.
Sec. 2. NRS 388.040 is hereby amended to read as follows:
388.040 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, the
board of trustees of a school district that includes more than one
school which offers instruction in the same grade or grades may
zone the school district and determine which pupils must attend
each school.
2. The establishment of zones pursuant to subsection 1 does
not preclude a pupil from attending a:
(a) Charter school;
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(b) University school for profoundly gifted pupils;
(c) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is
otherwise required to attend if the pupil is a child in foster care who
is remaining in his or her school of origin pursuant to
NRS 388E.105;
(d) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is
otherwise required to attend if the pupil has been issued a fictitious
address pursuant to NRS 217.462 to 217.471, inclusive, or the
parent or legal guardian with whom the pupil resides has been
issued a fictitious address pursuant to NRS 217.462 to 217.471,
inclusive; [or]
(e) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is
otherwise required to attend if the pupil is an English learner
enrolling in the school pursuant to subsection 5 of NRS 388.408 [.] ;
or
(f) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil
is otherwise required to attend if the public school is not at
capacity in the grade level of the pupil and the pupil is approved to
attend the school pursuant to this section.
3. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall:
(a) Establish a process to review the policies and procedures of
school districts adopted pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 4
to determine if such policies and procedures are consistent with
the requirements of this section.
(b) Ensure that an y application of a school district for pupils
to apply to attend a school outside the zone of attendance that the
pupil is otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of
subsection 2 is made available in the five most common languages
other than English primarily spoken in households in this State as
determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction , which
may include, without limitation, Spanish and Tagalog.
(c) On or before the fi rst day of each calendar quarter ,
publish, on the Internet website maintained by the Department,
the number of vacancies for each grade level in each public school
in this State.
(d) On the Internet website maintained by the Department,
annually publish d ata describing, for pupils who transferred
between schools located in different zones of attendance pursuant
to paragraph (f) of subsection 2:
(1) The total number of pupils who transferred between
schools located in different zones of attendance during the
previous school year; and
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(2) For each public school, the number of pupils who
transferred into and out of the school pursuant to paragraph (f) of
subsection 2 during the previous school year.
4. The board of trustees of each school district shall:
(a) Adopt policies and procedures governing the attendance of
pupils at schools outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is
otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of
subsection 2. Such policies and procedures must:
(1) Not deem a pu pil ineligible to attend a public school
outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required
to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2 on an arbitrary
basis, including, without limitation, based on the home address of
the pupil;
(2) Require all public schools within the school district,
except for magnet schools, career and technical academies and
dual enrollment high schools, to be open to the attendance of
pupils pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2, subject to
capacity;
(3) Prohibit the assessment of any tuition or fees by a
public school within the school district to a pupil who attends the
school pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2;
(4) Include a procedure for pupils to apply to attend a
public school outside t he zone of attendance that the pupil is
otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of
subsection 2, including, without limitation, the date each year on
which the school district will begin accepting applications and the
annual deadline by which an application must be submitted;
(5) Not require a pupil to complete an application to attend
a public school unless the pupil is requesting to attend a public
school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise
required to attend;
(6) Provide for the notification of a pupil and his or her
parent or legal guardian, and the principals of the schools
involved in the transfer of the pupil, if an application is approved;
and
(7) Include a method to determine which pupils to enroll in
any grade level within a public school for which applications
exceed the capacity limits established pursuant to paragraph (c),
which:
(I) Must give priority to pupils who live in the zone of
attendance for a public school that received, in the immediately
preceding school year, one of the two lowest ratings of
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performance pursuant to the statewide system of accountability for
public schools; and
(II) Except as otherwise provided in sub -subparagraph
(I), may include, without limitation, a lottery.
(b) On or before the first day of each calendar quarter, publish
on the Internet website maintained by the school district the
number of vacancies for each grade level in each public school in
the school district.
(c) Determine the capacity for each grade leve l within each
public school in the school district in accordance with the
provisions of this section and annually publish such capacity on
the Internet website maintained by the school district not later
than 90 days before the date on which the school district will begin
accepting applications from pupils to attend a public school
outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to
attend. The capacity determined pursuant to this paragraph must
not be reduced during the period in which the school district
accepts such applications unless a significant change in
circumstances, which was unforeseeable at the time the capacity
was published pursuant to this section, necessitates such a change,
including, without limitation, a change in capacit y due to an issue
with the facilities of the public school. If the capacity of a public
school is reduced during the period in which the school district
accepts such applications, the board of trustees shall ensure that,
not later than 15 days before the e arliest date on which decisions
on such applications are to be made, there is published on the
Internet website maintained by the school district a written
explanation of the change in circumstances which necessitated the
reduction in capacity.
(d) Require a public school in the school district to enroll a
pupil whose application submitted in accordance with the policies
and procedures adopted pursuant to paragraph (a) has been
approved, so long as the public school has capacity at the grade
level of the p upil without taking into consideration the capacity of
any specialized program.
(e) Allow a pupil whose application submitted in accordance
with the policies and procedures adopted pursuant to paragraph
(a) has been approved to permanently transfer to that public
school without requiring an additional application in any
subsequent school year.
(f) Adopt a uniform methodology for calculating the capacity
of each public school within the school district for the purposes of
paragraph (c). The methodology must be publicly documented,
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applied consistently across all public schools within the school
district and published on the Internet website maintained by the
school district. The methodology adopted by a school district must
calculate the capacity of each public school within the school
district based on:
(1) Maximum building occupancy; or
(2) An occupancy level of not more than 1 person per 40
square feet of instructional space.
(g) Prepare and submit an annual report to the Superintendent
of Public Instruction describing:
(1) The number of applications to attend a public school
outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to
attend that were received by the school district and the number of
such applications that were approved or denied; and
(2) For each application that was denied, the reason the
board of trustees of the school district denied the application.
5. The application process established by the board of trustees
of a school district pursuant to subsection 4 must prohibit the
consideration of any of the following factors in determining
whether to approve an application:
(a) The academic, artistic or athletic ability of a pupil;
(b) The participation of a pupil in any extracurricular activity
or the skill of a pupil in such an activity;
(c) Whether a pupil is a pupil with a disability;
(d) Whether a pupil is an English learner;
(e) The address at which the pupil resides; or
(f) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, whether a
pupil has previously been subject to any disciplinary action. The
board of trustees of a school district may deny the application of a
pupil who, in the school year for which the application is
submitted or in the immediately preceding school year, was
suspended for 10 or more days or expelled.
6. If an application to attend a public school outside the zone
of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to attend is denied
or no action is taken on the application, the parent or legal
guardian of the pupil may appeal the denial or lack of action to
the superintendent of the school district and he or she shall
promptly approve or deny the application . The decision of the
superintendent of the school district is final.
7. The board of trustees of a school district may accept gifts
and grants to carry out the provisions of subsections 3 to 6,
inclusive.
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8. The State Board shall adopt regulations necessary to carry
out the provisions of this section.
9. As used in this section:
(a) “Expelled” has the meaning ascribed to “expel” or
“expulsion” in NRS 392.4603.
(b) “Instructional space” does not include:
(1) A gymnasium;
(2) A theater;
(3) An administrative office;
(4) A cafeteria; and
(5) A storage space.
(c) “Suspended” has the meaning ascribed to “suspend” or
“suspension” in NRS 392.4607.
Sec. 3. The provisions of NRS 354.599 do not apply to any
additional expenses of a local government that are related to the
provisions of this act.
Sec. 4. 1. This section and section 3 of this act become
effective upon passage and approval.
2. Sections 1, 1.5 and 2 of this act become effective:
(a) Upon passage and approval for the purpose of adopting any
regulations and performing any other preparatory administrative
tasks that are necessary to carry out the provisions of this act; and
(b) On July 1, 2026, for all other purposes.
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