Commission forwards broad package of licensure and endorsement regulations to public hearings and workshops

The Nevada Department of Education commission moved a substantial package of proposed regulation updates to either public hearing or public workshop for further review, the commission announced at its Oct. 2025 meeting.

Staff presented a sequence of rulemaking items and commissioners voted, generally by voice vote, to advance each to the next public-comment phase. The items included proposed updates to NAC 391.252 to allow a provisional JROTC endorsement; R035-25 to delineate ethnic music and ethnic dance endorsements; R032-25 to require business-or-industry work experience and to consolidate automotive technician endorsements; R033-25 to revise bilingual endorsement requirements to comply with Senate Bill 115; R034-25 to align English language arts, social-emotional and cultural-competency endorsements with a tiered endorsement framework; R066-24 to allow provisional licensure pending official transcripts; R040-25 creating an out-of-state pathway for adaptive physical education endorsements; and several others.

Jeff Brisky, the department’s licensure director, explained technical points for multiple items. For the transcript-provision regulation staff recommended aligning all provisional licenses to a uniform three-year provisional period to address past pilot timelines (the department had previously issued 90- and 120-day provisions while awaiting transcripts). For the bill implementing endorsements for music, art and physical education under Senate Bill 400, staff said the effective date would be July 1, 2029, and noted that 146 educators who currently hold the elementary/middle-school physical-education endorsement would be automatically transferred to the K–12 PE endorsement.

Commissioners raised clarifying questions on several items. Commissioner Schultz asked why the thresholds in the music/art/PE bill used a 200,000-student district or a 500-student elementary school; staff said those thresholds were set by the legislature and that the provision currently applies to Clark County School District (the only district with 200,000 or more students). On the proposed rule allowing employment without a Nevada educator license (to comply with Assembly Bill 49), staff described the item as having two parts: allowing districts to employ out-of-state licensees pending Nevada licensure and allowing school nurses and social workers to work while their Nevada endorsements are pending. Staff said the bill places operational responsibility on employers to submit eligibility lists to the department and that the department has no additional funding for the manual checks staff suggested as a safeguard; staff also noted the department may write a more restrictive regulation than the statute allows.

Items were advanced as follows: NAC 391.252 (JROTC) was moved to public hearing; R035-25 (ethnic music and dance), R032-25 (business/industry work experience and automotive endorsement consolidation) and R033-25 (bilingual endorsement changes) were moved to public hearing; R034-25 (ELAD/SEAD/cultural competency) and R066-24 (transcript provisional license) were moved to public hearing or public workshop as noted in the agenda; R040-25 (adaptive PE) and discussion items about administrator endorsements and employment-without-license provisions were moved to future public workshops for more detailed consideration.

Votes to advance the items were generally made by named commissioners and passed by voice vote; meeting minutes record motions and seconds for each referral. Department staff said public hearings and workshops will be scheduled in accordance with required public-notice timelines.