Clark County School District outlines student outcomes, hiring and budget fixes to Assembly committee

Brenda Larson Mitchell, interim superintendent of the Clark County School District, told the Assembly Education Committee that the district is implementing new instructional systems and process improvements while acknowledging that student outcomes remain below desired levels.

Larson Mitchell said the district serves roughly 296,000 students across about 374 schools and employs approximately 44,000 staff. She reported growth on the Nevada School Performance Framework: 200 schools increased their index scores, 80 increased star ratings and six schools rose two stars. The district also highlighted honors including a national Blue Ribbon recognition for a school and 41 magnet schools receiving Magnet Schools of America honors.

Deputy Superintendent Melissa Gutierrez described the district’s focus on tier 1 instructional materials in math, English language arts and science and said staff are expanding differentiated professional learning and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) to deliver tier 2 and tier 3 interventions. Gutierrez said the district has increased dual-enrollment participation (a more than 400% rise since 2019) and reported more students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams.

Chief strategy officer Kelly Kowalpaul described a process improvement cycle for building school budgets after the district received a notice of noncompliance from the Nevada Department of Education. Kowalpaul said the district submitted an approved corrective action plan and has implemented steps including releasing updated school allocations by the January 15 statutory deadline and creating a transparent school allocation workbook to show principals how funds are calculated. She said the district is “not in a deficit position” and that its unassigned ending fund balance exceeds the Nevada academic code threshold.

Larson Mitchell cited hiring and staffing figures: the district hired about 2,430 new licensed educators this school year, and reported a 96% classroom fill rate. When asked about what the fill rate means, the district clarified that a “vacancy” is defined as a position that a principal has budgeted and posted to be filled; principals have autonomy to allocate funds and budget positions under NRS 388GS. The superintendent said class-size examples range from about 30–35 in some fourth and fifth grade classes to higher averages in secondary schools.

On staffing needs, Larson Mitchell said the district had 815 classroom vacancies as of Feb. 12 and has restructured its human-resources and recruiting teams; the district named a new chief of human resources and said a recruitment-and-retention plan is in late stages. Kowalpaul said the district has been working with the Nevada Department of Education and the Commission on Local Government Finance and cited two NDE commendations for transparency and community participation related to ESSER (COVID relief) spending. Larson Mitchell said CCSD received a little more than $777 million in ESSER funds.

Committee members asked about the gap between graduation rates and proficiency measures. Larson Mitchell said the district’s graduation rate recovered to about 81.5% and that grade‑level proficiency lags in some subjects; she pointed to the need for sustained MTSS implementation and high-quality tier 1 instruction and said research indicates multi-year timelines for full improvement following curricular and instructional changes.

The presentation closed with the district noting ongoing modernization projects, student support programs and community partnerships; the committee then moved on to the next agenda item.