S.B. 104
- *SB104*
SENATE BILL NO. 104–SENATOR PAZINA
PREFILED JANUARY 21, 2025
____________
Referred to Committee on Finance
SUMMARY—Makes an appropriation to the Other State Education
Programs Account for the creation and maintenance
of school gardens. (BDR S-539)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State: Contains Appropriation not included
in Executive Budget.
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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT making an appropriation for allocation to nonprofit
organizations to provide programs for the creation and
maintenance of school gardens; and providing other
matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. 1. There is hereby appropriated from the State 1
General Fund to the Other State Education Programs Account in the 2
State General Fund for the cost of creating and maintaining 3
programs for school gardens that meet the requirements of 4
subsection 3 the following sums: 5
For the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 ............................... $2,000,000 6
For the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 ............................... $2,000,000 7
2. The Department of Education shall allocate the money 8
appropriated by subsection 1 to nonprofit organizations to provide at 9
a public school a program for a school garden which meets the 10
requirements set forth in subsection 3. 11
3. For a nonprofit organization to receive an allocation of 12
money to provide a program for a school garden pursuant to 13
subsection 2, the program must: 14
(a) Create and maintain a school garden at the school. 15
(b) Have a curriculum that: 16
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(1) Includes a comprehensive science, technology, 1
engineering and mathematics school garden program. Such a 2
program must include, without limitation, a science, technology, 3
engineering and mathematics curriculum for outdoor or hydroponic 4
gardens for pupils in kindergarten through grade 12 that is tailored 5
to pupils of the appropriate grade levels at the school; 6
(2) Is written specifically for Nevada and the desert 7
environment of Nevada; 8
(3) Complies with the standards of content and performance 9
for a course of study in science adopted by the State Board of 10
Education pursuant to NRS 389.520; 11
(4) Uses experiential learning or project-based learning to 12
teach science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics; 13
(5) Is designed with the assistance of teachers and other 14
educational personnel with experience at the appropriate grade 15
levels at the school; and 16
(6) Involves supervised learning experiences for the pupils at 17
the school in a classroom and a school garden. 18
(c) Provide the school with assistance from members of the 19
community, including, without limitation, trained educators, local 20
farmers and local chefs. 21
(d) Provide pupils with the: 22
(1) Ability to operate a farmer’s market to sell the produce 23
from the school garden; and 24
(2) Opportunity to have a local chef or employee of a school 25
who works in food services demonstrate how to cook a meal using 26
the produce grown from the school garden. 27
(e) Establish garden teams comprised of teachers and, if such 28
persons are available, parents and members of the community. Each 29
garden team shall meet at least once each month. 30
(f) Require any local nonprofit or community -based 31
organization which will provide services to implement the program 32
for a school garden to have at least 2 years of experience 33
implementing such a program. 34
4. Money allocated pursuant to subsection 2 may be used to: 35
(a) Provide professional development for teachers regarding the: 36
(1) Use of a school garden to teach pupils with disabilities, 37
including, without limitation, training for teaching such pupils 38
science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum and 39
vocational training to create a career path in horticulture; 40
(2) Development and implementation of science, technology, 41
engineering, arts and mathematics curricula that incorporate the use 42
of a school garden; 43
(3) Development and implementation of training that may be 44
provided to a group or individually to teachers in how to establish 45
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and maintain school gardens to increase the time teachers allocate to 1
teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and 2
(4) Development and implementation of a food safety plan 3
designed to ensure that food grown in a school garden is properly 4
handled and safe to sell and consume; 5
(b) Pay for any travel expenses associated with the attendance of 6
a teacher at any training or conference relating to school gardens; 7
and 8
(c) Pay for the costs of a conference regarding school gardens 9
held in this State. 10
5. As used in this section: 11
(a) “Public school” has the meaning ascribed to it in 12
NRS 385.007. 13
(b) “School garden” includes, without limitation, a hydroponic 14
garden. 15
Sec. 2. Upon acceptance of the money allocated pursuant to 16
section 1 of this act, a nonprofit organization agrees to: 17
1. Prepare and transmit a report to the Interim Finance 18
Committee on or before October 1, 2026, that describes each 19
expenditure made from the money allocated pursuant to section 1 of 20
this act from the date on which the money was received by the 21
nonprofit organization through June 30, 2026; 22
2. Prepare and transmit a final report to the Interim Finance 23
Committee on or before October 1, 2027, that describes each 24
expenditure made from the money allocated pursuant to section 1 of 25
this act from the date on which the money was received by the 26
nonprofit organization through June 30, 2027; and 27
3. Upon request of the Legislative Commission, make available 28
to the Legislative Auditor any of the books, accounts, claims, 29
reports, vouchers or other records of information, confidential or 30
otherwise, of the nonprofit organization, regardless of their form or 31
location, that the Legislative Auditor deems necessary to conduct an 32
audit of the use of the money allocated pursuant to section 1 of this 33
act. 34
Sec. 3. Any balance of the sums appropriated by section 1 of 35
this act remaining at the end of the respective fiscal years must not 36
be committed for expenditure after June 30 of the respective fiscal 37
years by the entity to which the appropriation is made or any entity 38
to which money from the appropriation is granted or otherwise 39
transferred in any manner, and any portion of the appropriated 40
money remaining must not be spent for any purpose after 41
September 18, 2026, and September 17, 2027, respectively, by 42
either the entity to which the money was appropriated or the entity 43
to which the money was subsequently granted or transferred, and 44
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must be reverted to the State General Fund on or before 1
September 18, 2026, and September 17, 2027, respectively. 2
Sec. 4. This act becomes effective on July 1, 2025. 3
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