Commission moves temporary regulations to workshop, reviews 2025 legislative impacts for NDE rules

The Nevada Department of Education commission voted to move four temporary regulations to public workshops and received a detailed briefing on 2025 legislative changes that will require the department to draft or amend regulations.

"Temporary regulations are designed to be passed by a regulatory body when we're not allowed to do permanent regulations," Jeff Briski, the department's director of educator development, licensure and family engagement, told commissioners as he reviewed the four temporary regulations and the legislative impacts documented in the meeting packet.

The four temporary regulations the department reviewed (identified in materials as 0001-24 through 0004-24) would: (1) ensure applicants for a business-and-industry license have work experience appropriate to the endorsement and combine automotive endorsements; (2) combine two bilingual regulations into one and move an exam requirement to the department as required by NAC 391.036; (3) conform certain non-teaching endorsements (cultural competency, English language acquisition and development, social-emotional and academic development) with tiered endorsement structures; and (4) delineate specific areas for ethnic music and ethnic dance endorsements consistent with pilot programs in Nevada schools. The commission voted to move these temporary regulations to public workshops for further public comment and refinement.

Briski also reviewed legislative items the department must address through regulation, including: Assembly Bill 49 (allowing districts or charter schools to hire a teacher, school nurse or school social worker who holds a valid out-of-state license and has applied to NDE, effective 07/01/2026); Senate Bill 81 (removing ARL pathway for program and school administrators and requiring alternate pathways for already-licensed educators and provisional licenses tied to scholarships); Senate Bill 115 (bilingual endorsement requirement for bilingual assignments); Senate Bill 175 (JROTC endorsement provisions for military personnel with provisional option); Senate Bill 277 (provisional licenses for certain internship professionals); Senate Bill 400 (new endorsement requirement for elementary music and art in districts with over 200,000 students); and Senate Bill 460 (Science of Reading course requirements for K–3 staff and apprenticeship license provisions, and changes to fingerprinting on renewal timelines). He said the department will need to draft regulations to implement requirements such as AB 49's effective date of July 1, 2026, and the Science of Reading deadline of July 2028 for current K–3 staff.

Deputy Attorney General Greg Ott noted workshops and the regulation process typically define appropriate compliance timelines and ramp-up periods when new requirements are introduced. Briski clarified that while fingerprinting at renewal will involve a charge to process prints, teachers will not have to pay a fingerprinting vendor again; the department will coordinate with the Department of Public Safety and the FBI and reuse prints for subsequent renewals.

Briski also said Assembly Bill 177 (a speech-language assistant license created at the Speech Language Hearing Aid Dispensing Board) will require mirrored language so the department can issue a corresponding educator speech-language assistant credential.

Commissioners asked several clarifying questions about implementation windows and acceptable coursework for the Science of Reading requirement; Briski said the law allows either a college course or approved professional development and that the department will develop an approval matrix before the July 2028 deadline.

The department moved the temporary regulations to public workshops and will bring specific proposed permanent regulations and drafts to future meetings for adoption and submission to the legislative commission as required.