Washoe County School District reports gains in early reading, extracurriculars and staffing

Washoe County School District Superintendent Joe Ernst told the Nevada Assembly Committee on Education on the district’s strategic plan and progress, saying the district serves "nearly 60,000 students, 44% of them being Hispanic" and that it now operates more than 110 schools and 11 district‑sponsored charters.

The presentation focused on five strategic goals the district is tracking, including early reading, student voice and engagement, safety and belonging, academic growth and post‑graduation pathways. "We are providing all of our kindergarten students 1 book per month," Ernst said, describing family literacy supports alongside an opt‑in professional learning program for teachers on the science of reading (LETRS).

Washoe officials highlighted measurable short‑term gains. Ernst said fall I‑Ready reading proficiency rose from about 25% to 43% in three months for the tested cohort and that math proficiency also roughly doubled in the same period. The superintendent emphasized growth in phonics and phonemic awareness as drivers of those gains.

District leaders described a rapid expansion of extracurricular opportunities: after having 105 after‑school clubs in 2023–24, the district reported adding nearly 200 clubs this year and creating more than 14,000 additional hours of student engagement through increased slot‑pay for staff. Ernst said the district built an attendance and participation tracker in its Infinite Campus student management system this year to monitor which students take part in clubs and how that correlates with attendance and outcomes.

Ernst and other presenters described safety and family engagement initiatives, including an expanded parent‑teacher home‑visit program that nearly doubled participating schools, reporting about 344 staff who completed home visits and nearly 1,100 home visits this year. The district reported near‑universal placement in school‑of‑choice requests for families: of roughly 1,100 families applying in the first window, nearly 90% received their first choice and almost 95% were placed in one of their top two choices.

On staffing, the district credited recent funding for reducing the number of classrooms without a teacher at the start of the school year from more than 150 last year to 10 this year. Ernst said Washoe is the eighth largest employer in Nevada with about 9,500 staff and noted that 99% of staff teach within their licensure area and more than 70% of teachers hold a master’s degree or higher.

Career and technical education (CTE) expansion was another area of emphasis. Ernst announced the upcoming opening of the Debbie Smith CTE Academy in February and said CTE pathways and dual‑credit expansion are priorities; the district reported that 65% of students completed advanced courses last year, more than half earned AP credits and 31% earned dual credits.

Speakers at the hearing asked about data collection methods and program caps. Vice Chair DaSilva asked how extracurricular participation is tracked; Ernst said the district began tracking participation this year in Infinite Campus and emphasized training registrars and staff on entry timelines. Assembly member Flanagan asked whether slot‑pay expansion had caps; the district said elementary slot pay is piloted with six additional slots per elementary and that high school funding was increased with budgeted caps to manage growth.

The district framed these changes as ongoing work. "As we all know in education, you never arrive," Ernst said, urging continued attention to implementation and measurement as students prepare for statewide testing.

Ending: The presentation concluded with the superintendent offering to answer questions and committee members moving to other agenda items. No formal committee action or vote was recorded on the presentation itself.