Revises provisions relating to education. (BDR 34-273)

Existing law requires the board of trustees of each school district to determine the number of pupils enrolled in schools within the school district who are: (1) immigrants; (2) refugees; (3) new, short-term and long-term English learners; and (4) English learners who participate in various programs, courses or activities, receive a high school diploma and attend an institution of higher education after receiving a high school diploma. Existing law requires the board of trustees of each school district to submit such information to the Department of Education in an annual report and authorizes the Department to make recommendations to the board of trustees of each school district to improve programs for English learners based on the reports. (NRS 388.4073) Section 1 of this bill: (1) requires the board of trustees of each school district to additionally determine the percentage of such pupils enrolled in schools in the district; and (2) changes the definition of “long-term English learner” for the purposes of this report to refer to a pupil who has been classified as an English learner for more than 6 consecutive years after the pupil was first identified as an English learner. Effective July 1, 2028, existing law generally requires a pupil enrolled in grade 3 to be retained in grade 3, rather than promoted to grade 4, if the pupil does not obtain a score in the subject area of reading on a uniform examination in reading that meets the passing score prescribed by the State Board of Education. However, existing law also authorizes a pupil to receive a good-cause exemption to allow the pupil to be promoted to grade 4 without obtaining such a score if the principal of the school which the pupil attends determines that the pupil is eligible for such an exemption and submits a recommendation to the superintendent of schools of the school district or the governing body of the charter school, as applicable, which the pupil attends. (NRS 392.780, 392.785) Section 2 of this bill authorizes a pupil to qualify for one of the good-cause exemptions by demonstrating, through a portfolio of the pupil's work, mastery of the academic standards in reading for grade 3 rather than mastery of the academic standards in reading beyond grade 3.