Nevada education officials workshop repeal of special-education regulations; Washoe counsel warns students may lose residential funding

Carson City — The Nevada Department of Education on Thursday opened a public workshop to consider repealing Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) sections 388.460 through 388.488, regulations the department says reference statutory provisions that have since been repealed and consolidated into NRS chapter 388.

The change is intended to align state regulations with current statute and the department's existing case-based reimbursement process for extraordinary special-education expenses, officials said. The proposal drew a sustained public comment from Washoe County School District counsel, who said the repeal would create a funding gap for students who require residential placements.

Julie Bowers, director of the Office of Comprehensive Student Services at the Nevada Department of Education, told the workshop that the NAC sections slated for repeal were written to implement provisions of the now-repealed NRS chapter 395 and that keeping them would create “confusion and lack[] a legal basis for their continued enforcement.” She said the statutory language and related programmatic authority were consolidated into NRS chapter 388 after legislative reorganization following 2015 reforms. "It was a reorganization, not a rollback of rights or services for students with disabilities," Bowers said.

Bowers described the…