Making big changes, one bus at a time.
News coverage of the fight for transportation, so far!
More than a third of Nevada students chronically absent, continuing pandemic-era trend
Ignacio Prado has noticed a change at Futuro Academy in East Las Vegas ever since the pandemic: More parents are keeping their kids at home if they are sick.
It’s a factor that Prado, the K-5 charter school’s executive director, says is contributing to the school’s absenteeism rates, which decreased in the 2022-23 school year from the year before (from 57 percent to 38 percent) but remains much higher than before the pandemic (28 percent).
“When I have conferences with families, they just sort of say back to me a lot of what we said to them during the pandemic around not wanting to get other people sick,” he said. “Before the pandemic, coming to school with a cough wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Charter School Authority approves additional $1.2m in transportation funding, $4.7m remains
The Nevada State Public Charter School Authority Board on Friday approved an additional $1.2 million in transportation funding — bringing the total in awarded funds to $2.3 million, still far short of the $7 million available this academic year.
Jennifer Bauer, the interim executive director for the SPCSA, told the Charter School Board staff is providing “intense support” to schools in hopes of seeing them apply for the $7 million in available funding, which was established through an omnibus education bill sponsored by Gov. Joe Lombardo and subject to heavy negotiations with legislative Democrats. An additional $7 million will be available for the 2024-25 school year.
Lombardo got $14M for charter school transportation. Why aren’t more schools applying for it?
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo earlier this year secured for charter schools their first ever pool of dedicated money for transportation, calling it “a critical part of expanding and enhancing school choice opportunities in our state.”
But, so far, schools haven’t had to fight over the funding.
As of late August, only $1.2 million of the available $7 million in funding had been awarded to just 11 schools.
The dedicated transportation funding included as part of an education bill sponsored by Lombardo and subject to heavy negotiations with Democrats who control the Nevada Legislature. The bill set aside $14 million for student transportation at charter schools – $7 million for use in the current academic year and $7 million for the 2024-25 academic year.
State prepares to dole out $7 million to charter schools for transportation
Nevada charter schools this week will be able to apply for dedicated transportation funding, the state’s primary authorizer and governor’s office announced jointly Friday.
Up to $7 million in dedicated funds for charter school transportation is available for the upcoming 2023-24 school year, with an additional $7 million available the following year. The money was allocated to charter schools through Assembly Bill 400, an omnibus education bill sponsored by Gov. Joe Lombardo during this year’s legislative session.
The State Public Charter School Authority, or SPCSA, which sponsors the majority of charter schools across Nevada, will begin accepting applications on July 7. The applications will appear before the state charter school board for approval on a rolling basis, with the first batch expected to go before the board at their July 28 meeting.
Why charter school leaders think more funds for buses could promote equity
BY: ROCIO HERNANDEZ - MARCH 7, 2023 2:00 AM
Yellow school buses are a ubiquitous part of the school experience, but they are more of a rarity at Nevada charter schools. The issue comes down to policy and funding.
Unlike public school districts, public charter schools don’t receive additional state funds for transportation and aren’t required to offer those services to their students. As a result, only a handful of charter schools — such as Nevada Prep in Las Vegas — go the extra mile to provide transportation, paying for it through funding that would otherwise pay for staff salaries, curriculum and other costs associated with running their campuses…
What role does transportation play in charter school inequity? A lot, argues one charter
When David Blodgett and other founders of Nevada Prep began recruiting prospective students to their charter school, they didn’t know where exactly their physical building would be, but they made parents a promise: We will get your kids there…
Why a Las Vegas charter school made a pledge to parents and bought two yellow school buses
BY: JACKIE VALLEY - MARCH 1, 2020 2:00 AM
Just after 6:30 a.m. on a recent Wednesday morning, a yellow school bus bearing “NV PREP” vanity plates chugged out of a parking lot in central Las Vegas.
The bus made a left on Pacific Street and began its roughly 8-mile trek to Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in the northeast valley. But rather than drop off students at this traditional public school, the bus picked up nearly 50 students waiting on nearby Bledsoe Lane…
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