Cyndi Loza

Some school officials agreed Tuesday with a state report calling for more charter and private school options but stopped short of endorsing suggestions such as school vouchers.

The Nevada Policy Research Institute and Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice surveyed 1,000 likely Nevada voters last month about education. The study found people favor special education scholarships, a tax-credit scholarship system, school vouchers and overwhelmingly preferred private and charter schools.

“Charter schools provide a choice and a different option for students from the traditional kind of K-12 program,” said state Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell, D-Carson City and chairwoman of the Legislature’s interim Education Committee.

She said the committee will meet Feb. 21 in Las Vegas to discuss charter schools.

Washoe County schools Superintendent Paul Dugan said students need more options, “but I certainly don’t agree that public funding should be used for private schools.”

State superintendent Keith Rheault said he was surprised that more than half of the people surveyed “somewhat favored” and “strongly favored” school vouchers and special-needs scholarships.

“I haven’t seen that kind of public support during testimony when school voucher bills and special-needs bills were discussed at the Legislature,” Rheault said.

Rheault said “had some value but limited.”

State Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said some results were questionable.

“I think it’s a bit of a spin,” said Smith, vice chair of the Assembly Education Committee.

For example, when the survey asked how Nevada’s public school system rates, 14 percent answered “poor and 39 percent answered fair. Smith said it was not accurate for the survey then to report “a majority of Nevadans are not satisfied with the current system of regular public schools.”

“If you look at the actual question and response, there’s a big difference between poor and fair,” Smith said.

But the survey sheds some light on current issues, Smith said. In the study, 33 percent of people felt the biggest challenge for the state’s public school system is lack of money.

“It validates what I been saying for months that we’re cutting a budget that needs to be increased not cut,” Smith said.

Last month, the Nevada Board of Education unanimously voted to impose a temporary freeze on the approval of new charter schools in Nevada, citing inadequate staff to monitor a growing number of such schools.

Board members said the freeze was necessary because the state Education Department is overwhelmed by applications to create charter schools.

The department expects a surge in applications because the Clark County School District decided in October to end sponsorship of new charter schools because of the time and expense.

Under state law, school districts have a choice whether to sponsor charter schools. The state has no such flexibility.

By the numbers

Nevada has 23 charter schools. Five are sponsored by the state Education Department, with two more expected to open next fall. Others are sponsored by school districts.