A.B. 425
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ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 425–ASSEMBLYMEMBER LA RUE HATCH
MARCH 13, 2025
____________
Referred to Committee on Education
SUMMARY—Revises provisions governing education.
(BDR 34-213)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: Increases or Newly
Provides for Term of Imprisonment in County or City
Jail or Detention Facility.
Effect on the State: No.
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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to education; providing that certain teachers have
sole authority to determine the grade assigned to a pupil
and the components and weights used to calculate such a
grade; prohibiting regulations, policies or directives that
interfere with such authority; prohibiting certain acts
intended to interfere with the grade assigned to a pupil or
the components or weights used to calculate such a grade;
eliminating provisions requiring certain teachers and
administrators to develop learning goals for pupils that are
used in the evaluations of such teachers and
administrators; providing a penalty; and providing other
matters properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt regulations that 1
provide a uniform grading scale for all public high schools, including, without 2
limitation, a grading scale for dual credit courses, international baccalaureate 3
courses, advanced placement courses and honors courses. (NRS 389.007) Section 2 4
of this bill provides that the teacher who provides instruction to a pupil, regardless 5
of the grade in which the pupil is enrolled, maintains sole discretion over: (1) the 6
assignment of a grade to the pupil; and (2) the determination of any components or 7
weights used in calculating the grade assigned to a pupil. Section 2 provides that a 8
person or entity, including, without limitation, the State Board of Education, the 9
Department of Education, the board of trustees of a school district, an administrator 10
or a teacher other than the instructor of the course, is prohibited from interfering 11
with the professional judgment of a teacher in assigning a grade to a pupil. Section 12
2 further: (1) prohibits any such person or entity from adopting a regulation, policy 13
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or other directive that interferes with the professional judgment of a teacher in 14
assigning a grade to a pupil; and (2) voids and makes unenforceable any regulation, 15
policy or other directive that interferes with the professional judgment of a teacher 16
in assigning a grade to a pupil. Section 4 of this bill makes a conforming change by 17
removing the authority of a public high school to determine how the results of the 18
examination for civics will affect the grade of a pupil in the course in which the 19
examination is administered. (NRS 389.009) 20
Section 3 of this bill provides that an administrator or a parent or legal guardian 21
of a pupil is guilty of a misdemeanor if he or she intimidates, threatens, coerces or 22
harasses a teacher with the intent to interfere with or compel the teacher to alter any 23
grade assigned to the pupil or the components or weights used to calculate such a 24
grade. Section 3 provides that an administrator is guilty of a misdemeanor if he or 25
she disciplines or retaliates against a teacher for: (1) the grade assigned to a pupil; 26
or (2) the refusal of the teacher to alter such a grade or the components or weights 27
used to calculate such a grade. 28
Existing law: (1) requires each teacher and each administrator who provides 29
direct instructional services to pupils at a school to develop learning goals for his or 30
her pupils; (2) provides that pupil growth may be determined by the extent to which 31
the learning goals of a pupil are achieved; and (3) requires such learning goals and 32
pupil growth to be included in the evaluations of such teachers and administrators. 33
(NRS 391.480) Section 9 of this bill repeals those provisions. Sections 5-8 of this 34
bill make conforming changes to remove other references to learning goals and 35
pupil growth in existing law. 36
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Chapter 389 of NRS is hereby amended by adding 1
thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this act. 2
Sec. 2. 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, it is 3
solely the discretion of the teacher who provides instruction to a 4
pupil to determine: 5
(a) The grade assigned to the pupil; and 6
(b) Any components or weights that are factors in calculating 7
the grade assigned to the pupil. 8
2. For pupils in high school, the grade assigned to a pupil 9
must comply with the uniform grading scale prescribed by the 10
State Board pursuant to NRS 389.007. 11
3. Any person or entity, including, without limitation, the 12
State Board, the Department, the board of trustees of a school 13
district, an administrator or a teacher other than the instructor of 14
the course, shall not: 15
(a) Interfere with the professional judgment of the teacher 16
who provides instruction in carrying out the provisions of 17
subsection 1. 18
(b) Except as otherwise provided in NRS 389.007, prescribe 19
any regulation, policy or other directive that interferes with the 20
provisions of subsection 1, including, without limitation, a 21
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regulation, policy or other directive that prescribes the minimum 1
grade a teacher may assign to a pupil. 2
4. Any regulation, policy or other directive issued by a person 3
or entity that interferes with the provisions of subsection 1 is void 4
and unenforceable. 5
5. As used in this section, “administrator” means the 6
principal, administrator or other person in charge of a public 7
school. 8
Sec. 3. 1. An administrator or the parent or legal guardian 9
of a pupil shall not, directly or indirectly, intimidate, threaten, 10
coerce or harass a teacher with the intent to interfere with or 11
compel the teacher to alter any grade assigned to the pupil or any 12
components or weights that are factors in calculating the grade 13
assigned to the pupil. 14
2. An administrator shall not discipline or retaliate against a 15
teacher solely for: 16
(a) The grade assigned to a pupil; or 17
(b) The refusal of the teacher to alter the grade assigned to a 18
pupil or the components or weights that are factors in calculating 19
the grade assigned to a pupil. 20
3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this 21
section is guilty of a misdemeanor. 22
4. As used in this section, “administrator” means the 23
principal, administrator or other person in charge of a public 24
school. 25
Sec. 4. NRS 389.009 is hereby amended to read as follows: 26
389.009 1. A public high school shall administer an 27
examination containing a number of questions, determined by the 28
public high school, which are identical to the questions contained in 29
the civics portion of the naturalization test adopted by the United 30
States Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of 31
Homeland Security, to each pupil enrolled in the public high school. 32
2. A public high school shall: 33
(a) Determine the course in which the examination will be 34
administered; 35
(b) Establish the number of questions which will be included on 36
the examination, which must not be less than 50; 37
(c) Determine the desired score on the examination ; [and the 38
manner in which the results of the examination administered to a 39
pupil will affect the grade of the pupil in the course in which the 40
examination is administered;] and 41
(d) Not later than August 31 of each year, aggregate the results 42
of the examination for all pupils at the public high school and report 43
the aggregated results to the board of trustees of the school district 44
in which the public high school is located. 45
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3. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, no pupil in 1
any public high school may receive a certificate or diploma of 2
graduation without having taken the examination described in 3
subsection 1. 4
4. A pupil may receive a waiver from the examination 5
administered pursuant to subsection 1 if: 6
(a) The pupil is a pupil with a disability and the waiver is in 7
accordance with his or her individualized education program; 8
(b) The pupil is identified as an English learner and the public 9
high school is unable to offer the examination in the language which 10
would be most likely to provide accurate results for the pupil; or 11
(c) The principal or administrator of the public high school 12
determines that the pupil has completed all other academic 13
requirements to receive a certificate or diploma of graduation and 14
has shown good cause for a waiver. The principal or administrator 15
of a public high school shall not grant a waiver pursuant to this 16
paragraph to more than 10 percent of each graduating class of the 17
public high school. 18
5. On or before December 31 of each year, the board of 19
trustees of each school district shall report the aggregated results of 20
the examination received by the board of trustees of the school 21
district pursuant to subsection 2 to the Department. 22
6. As used in this section, “public high school” includes, 23
without limitation, any charter school that operates as a high school. 24
Sec. 5. NRS 391.460 is hereby amended to read as follows: 25
391.460 1. The Council shall: 26
(a) Make recommendations to the State Board concerning the 27
adoption of regulations for establishing a statewide performance 28
evaluation system to ensure that teachers, administrators who 29
provide primarily administrative services at the school level, 30
administrators at the district level who provide direct supervision of 31
the principal of a school, and who do not provide primarily direct 32
instructional services to pupils, and other licensed educational 33
personnel, regardless of whether licensed as a teacher or 34
administrator, including, without limitation, a principal and vice 35
principal are: 36
(1) Evaluated using multiple, fair, timely, rigorous and valid 37
methods ; [, which includes evaluations based upon pupil growth as 38
required by NRS 391.465;] 39
(2) Afforded a meaningful opportunity to improve their 40
effectiveness through professional development that is linked to 41
their evaluations; and 42
(3) Provided with the means to share effective educational 43
methods with other teachers, administrators and other licensed 44
educational personnel throughout this State. 45
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(b) Develop and recommend to the State Board a plan, including 1
duties and associated costs, for the development and implementation 2
of the performance evaluation system by the Department and school 3
districts. 4
(c) Consider the role of professional standards for teachers, 5
administrators and other licensed educational personnel, to which 6
paragraph (a) applies and, as it determines appropriate, develop a 7
plan for recommending the adoption of such standards by the State 8
Board. 9
(d) Develop and recommend to the State Board a process for 10
peer observations of teachers by qualified educational personnel 11
which is designed to provide assistance to teachers in meeting the 12
standards of effective teaching, and includes, without limitation, 13
conducting observations, participating in conferences before and 14
after observations of the teacher and providing information and 15
resources to the teacher about strategies for effective teaching. 16
2. The performance evaluation system recommended by the 17
Council must ensure that: 18
(a) Data derived from the evaluations is used to create 19
professional development programs that enhance the effectiveness 20
of teachers, administrators and other licensed educational personnel; 21
and 22
(b) A timeline is included for monitoring the performance 23
evaluation system at least annually for quality, reliability, validity, 24
fairness, consistency and objectivity. 25
3. The Council may establish such working groups, task forces 26
and similar entities from within or outside its membership as 27
necessary to address specific issues or otherwise to assist in its 28
work. 29
4. The State Board shall consider the recommendations made 30
by the Council pursuant to this section and shall adopt regulations 31
establishing a statewide performance evaluation system as required 32
by NRS 391.465. 33
Sec. 6. NRS 391.465 is hereby amended to read as follows: 34
391.465 1. The State Board shall, based upon the 35
recommendations of the Teachers and Leaders Council of Nevada 36
submitted pursuant to NRS 391.460, adopt regulations establishing a 37
statewide performance evaluation system which incorporates 38
multiple measures of an employee’s performance. Except as 39
otherwise provided in subsection 3, the State Board shall prescribe 40
the tools to be used by a school district for obtaining such measures. 41
2. The statewide performance evaluation system must: 42
(a) Require that an employee’s overall performance is 43
determined to be: 44
(1) Highly effective; 45
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(2) Effective; 1
(3) Developing; or 2
(4) Ineffective. 3
(b) Include the criteria for making each designation identified in 4
paragraph (a), which must include, without limitation, consideration 5
of whether the classes for which the employee is responsible exceed 6
the applicable recommended ratios of pupils per licensed teacher 7
prescribed by the State Board pursuant to NRS 388.890 and, if so, 8
the degree to which the ratios affect: 9
(1) The ability of the employee to carry out his or her 10
professional responsibilities; and 11
(2) The instructional practices of the employee. 12
(c) [Except as otherwise provided in subsections 2 and 3 of NRS 13
391.695 and subsections 2 and 3 of NRS 391.715, require that pupil 14
growth, as determined pursuant to NRS 391.480, account for 15 15
percent of the evaluation of a teacher or administrator who provides 16
direct instructional services to pupils at a school in a school district. 17
(d)] Include an evaluation of whether the teacher, or 18
administrator who provides primarily administrative services at the 19
school level or administrator at the district level who provides direct 20
supervision of the principal of a school, and who does not provide 21
primarily direct instructional services to pupils, regardless of 22
whether the probationary administrator is licensed as a teacher or 23
administrator, including, without limitation, a principal and vice 24
principal or licensed educational employee, other than a teacher or 25
administrator, employs practices and strategies to involve and 26
engage the parents and families of pupils. 27
[(e)] (d) Include a process for peer observations of teachers by 28
qualified educational personnel which is designed to provide 29
assistance to teachers in meeting the standards of effective teaching, 30
and includes, without limitation, conducting observations, 31
participating in conferences before and after observations of the 32
teacher and providing information and resources to the teacher about 33
strategies for effective teaching. The regulations must include the 34
criteria for school districts to determine which educational personnel 35
are qualified to conduct peer observations pursuant to the process. 36
[(f)] (e) Require a person who evaluates a teacher who is 37
responsible for a number of pupils that exceeds the applicable 38
recommended ratio of pupils per licensed teacher prescribed by the 39
State Board pursuant to NRS 388.890, who is a postprobationary 40
employee as defined in NRS 391.650 and whose performance on 41
that evaluation is designated as effective or highly effective to, 42
under the statewide performance evaluation system, award the 43
teacher an additional weight for criteria relating to: 44
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(1) The manner in which the teacher structures a classroom 1
environment; 2
(2) The manner in which the teacher provides an opportunity 3
for extended discourse; 4
(3) The manner in which the teacher employs the cognitive 5
abilities and skills of all pupils; 6
(4) The manner in which the teacher engages with the 7
families of pupils; and 8
(5) The perception of pupils of the performance of the 9
teacher, 10
that is equivalent to the percentage by which the ratio of pupils 11
for which the teacher is responsible exceeds the recommended ratio 12
of pupils per licensed teacher. Any additional weight awarded to a 13
teacher pursuant to this paragraph must not cause the score on a 14
criterion to exceed the maximum score that would otherwise be 15
possible on the criterion for a teacher rated as highly effective. 16
[(g)] (f) If an employee knowingly and willfully failed to 17
comply with the provisions of NRS 388.1351, indicate any 18
disciplinary actions taken against the employee pursuant to 19
NRS 388.1354. 20
3. A school district may apply to the State Board to use a 21
performance evaluation system and tools that are different than the 22
evaluation system and tools prescribed pursuant to subsection 1. The 23
application must be in the form prescribed by the State Board and 24
must include, without limitation, a description of the evaluation 25
system and tools proposed to be used by the school district. The 26
State Board may approve the use of the proposed evaluation system 27
and tools if it determines that the proposed evaluation system and 28
tools apply standards and indicators that are equivalent to those 29
prescribed by the State Board. 30
4. An administrator at the district level who provides direct 31
supervision of the principal of a school and who also serves as the 32
superintendent of schools of a school district must not be evaluated 33
using the statewide performance evaluation system. 34
Sec. 7. NRS 391.470 is hereby amended to read as follows: 35
391.470 On or before August 1 of each year, the board of 36
trustees of each school district shall submit a report to the State 37
Board and the Teachers and Leaders Council of Nevada created by 38
NRS 391.455 concerning the implementation and effectiveness of 39
the process for peer observations of teachers set forth in the 40
regulations adopted by the State Board pursuant to paragraph [(e)] 41
(d) of subsection 2 of NRS 391.465, including, without limitation, 42
any recommendations for revisions to the process of peer 43
observations. 44
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Sec. 8. NRS 391.485 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1
391.485 1. The State Board shall annually review the 2
statewide performance evaluation system to ensure accuracy and 3
reliability. Such a review must include, without limitation, an 4
analysis of the: 5
(a) Number and percentage of teachers, administrators and other 6
licensed educational personnel who receive each designation 7
identified in paragraph (a) of subsection 2 of NRS 391.465 in each 8
school, school district, and the State as a whole; and 9
(b) [Data used to evaluate pupil growth in each school, school 10
district and the State as a whole, including, without limitation, any 11
observations; and 12
(c)] Effect of the evaluations conducted pursuant to the 13
statewide system of accountability for public schools on the 14
academic performance of pupils enrolled in the school district in 15
each school and school district, and the State as a whole. 16
2. The board of trustees of each school district shall annually 17
review the manner in which schools in the school district carry out 18
the evaluation of teachers, administrators and other licensed 19
educational personnel pursuant to the statewide performance 20
evaluation system. 21
3. The Department may review the manner in which the 22
statewide performance evaluation system is carried out by each 23
school district . [, including, without limitation, the manner in which 24
the learning goals for pupils are established and evaluated pursuant 25
to NRS 391.480.] 26
Sec. 9. NRS 391.480 is hereby repealed. 27
Sec. 10. 1. This section becomes effective upon passage and 28
approval. 29
2. Sections 1 to 9, inclusive, of this act become effective: 30
(a) Upon passage and approval for the purpose of adopting any 31
regulations and performing any other preparatory administrative 32
tasks that are necessary to carry out the provisions of this act; and 33
(b) On July 1, 2025, for all other purposes. 34
TEXT OF REPEALED SECTION
391.480 Development of learning goals for pupils;
Department to establish list of assessments to measure
achievement of learning goals; evaluation of educational
personnel based on achievement of learning goals; regulations.
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1. Each teacher at a school in a school district shall, in
consultation with the principal of the school at which the teacher is
employed or other administrator who is assigned by the principal,
develop learning goals for the pupils of the teacher for a specified
period.
2. Each principal, vice principal and other administrator who
provides direct instructional services to pupils at a school in a school
district shall, in consultation with his or her direct supervisor,
develop learning goals for the pupils at the school where the
principal, vice principal or other administrator, as applicable, is
employed for a specified period.
3. The Department shall establish a list of assessments that
may be used by a school or school district to measure the
achievement of learning goals established pursuant to this section.
4. The board of trustees of each school district shall ensure that
the learning goals for pupils established pursuant to this section
measure pupil growth in accordance with the criteria established by
regulation of the State Board.
5. Each teacher and administrator who establishes learning
goals for pupils pursuant to this section must be evaluated at the end
of the specified period to determine the extent to which the learning
goals of the pupils were achieved. Such an evaluation must be
conducted in accordance with the criteria established by regulation
of the State Board for determining the level of pupil growth for the
purposes of the statewide performance evaluation system. The State
Board may establish by regulation the manner in which to include
certain categories of pupils in the evaluation conducted pursuant to
this subsection.
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