EXEMPT
(Reprinted with amendments adopted on April 21, 2025)
FIRST REPRINT A.B. 533
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ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 533–COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
MARCH 24, 2025
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Referred to Committee on Education
SUMMARY—Revises provisions relating to education.
(BDR 34-756)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: May have Fiscal Impact.
Effect on the State: Yes.
CONTAINS UNFUNDED MANDATE (§ 2)
(NOT REQUESTED BY AFFECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT)
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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; authorizing a pupil to attend a public
school outside the zone of attendance the pupil is
otherwise required to attend in certain circumstances; and
providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law: (1) authorizes the board of trustees of certain school districts to 1
zone the school district and determine which pupils must attend each school; and 2
(2) allows pupils to attend certain schools despite the zoning decision of the board 3
of trustees of the school district. (NRS 388.040) Section 2 of this bill authorizes a 4
pupil to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is 5
otherwise required to attend if the public school is not at capacity in the grade level 6
of the pupil and the pupil receives approval to attend the school. Section 2 7
additionally: (1) requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish an 8
application process to enable pupils to request such transfers between public 9
schools; (2) provides certain requirements governing the application process, 10
including, without limitation, various factors that may not be considered when 11
determining whether to approve an application; (3) sets forth the process for the 12
parent or legal guardian of a pupil who submits an application to appeal certain 13
decisions regarding the application; and (4) requires the Superintendent of Public 14
Instruction to publish certain data concerning vacancies at each public school on 15
the Internet website maintained by the Department of Education. Section 1 of this 16
bill authorizes the board of trustees of a school district that furnishes transportation 17
to pupils to elect not to provide transportation to a pupil who attends a public 18
school outside of his or her zone of attendance pursuant to section 2. Additionally, 19
section 2 authorizes the board of trustees of a school district to accept gifts and 20
grants to carry out certain provisions of section 2. Section 2 also requires the board 21
of trustees of each school district to submit to the Superintendent of Public 22
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Instruction an annual report concerning, without limitation: (1) transportation 23
resources available to the district; and (2) how such resources can be used to 24
provide transportation to pupils who submit an application to attend a public school 25
outside the zone of attendance that the pupils are otherwise required to attend. 26
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: 1
386.790 1. As provided in this title, the board of trustees of 2
any school district may furnish transportation for all resident 3
children of school age in the school district attending a public 4
school, including pupils assigned to special schools or programs 5
pursuant to NRS 388.417 to 388.469, inclusive, or 388.5251 to 6
388.5267, inclusive: 7
(a) Who are not excused from school attendance by the 8
provisions of this title; and 9
(b) Who reside within the school district at such a distance from 10
the school as to make transportation necessary and desirable. 11
2. When the board of trustees of a school district whose 12
population is less than 100,000 furnishes transportation for pupils 13
attending public schools pursuant to subsection 1, the board may 14
also provide transportation for all resident children of school age in 15
the school district attending private schools not operated for profit, 16
over bus routes established for pupils attending public schools. If 17
such transportation is provided, the pupils attending such private 18
schools must be transported, if space is available, to and from the 19
points on the established routes nearest to the schools which they 20
attend. 21
3. The board of trustees of any school district may: 22
(a) Establish bus routes. 23
(b) Make regulations governing the conduct of pupils while 24
being transported. 25
(c) For the safety of pupils being transported, govern the 26
conduct of drivers by making and enforcing regulations not 27
inconsistent with regulations of the State Board of Education or with 28
law. 29
4. If the board of trustees of a school district furnishes 30
transportation pursuant to this section, the board of trustees may 31
elect not to provide transportation to pupils who attend a public 32
school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise 33
required to attend pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2 of 34
NRS 388.040. 35
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Sec. 2. NRS 388.040 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1
388.040 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, the 2
board of trustees of a school district that includes more than one 3
school which offers instruction in the same grade or grades may 4
zone the school district and determine which pupils must attend 5
each school. 6
2. The establishment of zones pursuant to subsection 1 does 7
not preclude a pupil from attending a: 8
(a) Charter school; 9
(b) University school for profoundly gifted pupils; 10
(c) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is 11
otherwise required to attend if the pupil is a child in foster care who 12
is remaining in his or her school of origin pursuant to 13
NRS 388E.105; 14
(d) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is 15
otherwise required to attend if the pupil has been issued a fictitious 16
address pursuant to NRS 217.462 to 217.471, inclusive, or the 17
parent or legal guardian with whom the pupil resides has been 18
issued a fictitious address pursuant to NRS 217.462 to 217.471, 19
inclusive; [or] 20
(e) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is 21
otherwise required to attend if the pupil is an English learner 22
enrolling in the school pursuant to subsection 5 of NRS 388.408 [.] ; 23
or 24
(f) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil 25
is otherwise required to attend if the public school is not at 26
capacity in the grade level of the pupil and the pupil is approved to 27
attend the school pursuant to this section. 28
3. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall: 29
(a) Establish an application process through which a pupil 30
may request to attend, pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection 2, a 31
public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is 32
otherwise required to attend. The process must: 33
(1) Include an annual deadline by which a pupil must 34
submit the application to the board of trustees of the school district 35
in which the school the pupil requests to attend is located; and 36
(2) Provide for the notification of a pupil and his or her 37
parent or legal guardian, and the principals of the schools 38
involved in the transfer of the pupil, if an application is approved. 39
(b) Ensure that any application developed pursuant to 40
paragraph (a) is made available in the five most common 41
languages other than English primarily spoken in households in 42
this State as determined by the Superintendent of Public 43
Instruction, which may include, without limitation, Spanish and 44
Tagalog. 45
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(c) On or before the first calendar day of each month, publish, 1
on the Internet website maintained by the Department, the number 2
of vacancies for each grade level in each public school in this 3
State. 4
(d) Not require a pupil to complete an application developed 5
pursuant to paragraph (a) unless the pupil is requesting to attend 6
a public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is 7
otherwise required to attend. 8
(e) On the Internet website maintained by the Department, 9
annually publish data describing, for pupils who transferred 10
between schools located in different zones of attendance pursuant 11
to paragraph (f) of subsection 2: 12
(1) The total number of pupils who transferred between 13
schools located in different zones of attendance during the 14
previous school year; and 15
(2) For each public school, the number of pupils who 16
transferred into and out of the school pursuant to paragraph (f) of 17
subsection 2 during the previous school year. 18
4. The board of trustees of each school district shall: 19
(a) Determine the capacity for each grade level within each 20
public school in the school district in accordance with the 21
provisions of this section. 22
(b) Require a public school in the school district to enroll a 23
pupil whose application submitted pursuant to subsection 3 has 24
been approved, so long as the public school has capacity at the 25
grade level of the pupil without taking into consideration the 26
capacity of any specialized program. 27
(c) Establish a method to determine which pupils to enroll in 28
any grade level within a public school for which applications 29
exceed the capacity limits established pursuant to paragraph (a), 30
which may include, without limitation, a lottery system. 31
(d) Allow a pupil whose application submitted pursuant to 32
subsection 3 has been approved to permanently transfer to that 33
public school without requiring an additional application in any 34
subsequent school year. 35
(e) Prepare and submit an annual report to the Superintendent 36
of Public Instruction describing: 37
(1) The number of applications received pursuant to 38
subsection 3 and the number of such applications that were 39
approved or denied; and 40
(2) For each application that was denied, the reason the 41
board of trustees of the school district denied the application. 42
5. The application process established pursuant to subsection 43
3 must prohibit the consideration of any of the following factors in 44
determining whether to approve an application: 45
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(a) The academic, artistic or athletic ability of a pupil; 1
(b) The participation of a pupil in any extracurricular activity 2
or the skill of a pupil in such an activity; 3
(c) Whether a pupil is a pupil with a disability; 4
(d) Whether a pupil is an English learner; 5
(e) The address at which the pupil resides; or 6
(f) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, whether a 7
pupil has previously been subject to any disciplinary action. The 8
board of trustees of a school district may deny the application of a 9
pupil who, in the school year for which the application is 10
submitted or in the immediately preceding school year, was 11
suspended for 10 or more days or expelled. 12
6. If an application to attend a public school outside the zone 13
of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to attend submitted 14
pursuant to subsection 3 is denied or no action is taken on the 15
application, the parent or legal guardian of the pupil may appeal 16
the denial or lack of action to the superintendent of the school 17
district and he or she shall promptly approve or deny the 18
application. The decision of the superintendent of the school 19
district is final. 20
7. The board of trustees of a school district may accept gifts 21
and grants to carry out the provisions of subsections 3 to 6, 22
inclusive. 23
8. Each year, the board of trustees of each school district 24
shall prepare and submit to the Superintendent of Public 25
Instruction a report describing: 26
(a) The resources available to the school district for the 27
transportation of pupils; 28
(b) The number of pupils enrolled in the school district who 29
have applied to attend a school outside the zone of attendance that 30
the pupils are otherwise required to attend pursuant to subsection 31
3; and 32
(c) An analysis of ways the resources available to the school 33
district for the transportation of pupils could be used to provide 34
transportation to pupils who have submitted an application to 35
attend a school outside the zone of attendance that the pupils are 36
otherwise required to attend pursuant to subsection 3. 37
9. As used in this section: 38
(a) “Capacity” means the number of pupils who can be 39
adequately served by a school in each grade level, calculated by 40
subtracting the sum of the number of pupils enrolled in the school 41
at that grade level and the number of staff members assigned to 42
the school for that grade level from the maximum physical 43
capacity of the instructional space in the school dedicated to that 44
grade level. 45
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(b) “Expelled” has the meaning ascribed to “expel” or 1
“expulsion” in NRS 392.4603. 2
(c) “Instructional space” does not include: 3
(1) A gymnasium; 4
(2) A theater; 5
(3) An administrative office; 6
(4) A cafeteria; and 7
(5) A storage space. 8
(d) “Suspended” has the meaning ascribed to “suspend” or 9
“suspension” in NRS 392.4607. 10
Sec. 3. The provisions of NRS 354.599 do not apply to any 11
additional expenses of a local government that are related to the 12
provisions of this act. 13
Sec. 4. 1. This section and section 3 of this act become 14
effective upon passage and approval. 15
2. Sections 1 and 2 of this act become effective: 16
(a) Upon passage and approval for the purpose of adopting any 17
regulations and performing any other preparatory administrative 18
tasks that are necessary to carry out the provisions of this act; and 19
(b) On July 1, 2026, for all other purposes. 20
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