Appointed Clark County School Board trustees to get voting rights in 2027

The appointed trustees on the Clark County School Board will have voting rights starting in 2027, thanks to a sweeping education bill passed in the final hours of the 83rd legislative session.

Along with the seven elected members, Assembly Bill 175 — which was signed by Gov. Joe Lombardo in 2023 — added four members appointed by Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson to the board. Both elected and appointed trustees serve four-year terms on the School Board.

The appointed trustees’ role on the School Board has been tenuous even before they took their seats in 2024. The Clark County School District opposed AB175 and later went to court with North Las Vegas and Henderson after the School Board attempted to strip the appointed members of their right to make motions. District Judge Nadia Krall ruled against CCSD in May 2024.

The addition of voting rights came as one of many components of Senate Bill 460, the merged version of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Lombardo’s education bills. Proponents say appointed trustees — all of whom come from education backgrounds — bring educational expertise to the Board, though opponents worry that it is an overstep from municipalities over the voting populous. Either way, the change has the potential to shake up voting blocs on key issues.

Trustee Ramona Esparza-Stoffregan, Henderson’s appointed trustee, has been a strong force on the board, especially during her scrutiny during the district’s budget errors this fall.

“I am grateful to be able to continue to add value and share an educational perspective,” Esparza-Stoffregan said Tuesday, clarifying that she was speaking as an individual. “By getting a vote in the future, it solidifies appointeds’ role to move the necessary work forward for our district.”

Past controversy

The text in an SB460 amendment bill changes “nonvoting” to “voting” for the law that adds the appointed trustees, and adds: “The board of trustees of a school district may not adopt any requirements, statutes, regulations, rules, policies or bylaws or take any action to restrict or curtail the duties, rights or responsibilities of a member of the board of trustees of the school district based on whether the member was elected or appointed to his or her position.”

AB175 was originally passed amid a School Board with a reputation for dysfunction. Proponents cited turmoil on the board in preceding years, including arguments among trustees and the board’s split decisions to fire former Superintendent Jesus Jara and then reverse course the following month.

At the time, the board had a frequent 4-3 split in its voting. It is not always clear how all of the appointed trustees would vote on certain issues, though at times trustees have hinted — or made clear statements — of how they would vote in critical issues.

The school district opposed the 2023 bill arguing that it “seeks to experiment on the school-aged children in Southern Nevada by imposing a non-evidence-based board structure that puts adult issues and power struggles ahead of the needs of kids,” the district’s then-Director of Government Relations Patricia Haddad told legislators before the bill was passed.

CCSD did not respond to request for comment.

Trustees add education expertise

The Las Vegas City Council appointed Adam Johnson, who is the executive director of the College Board and former executive director of Democracy Prep Public Schools as well as a managing director for Teach for America.

Henderson City Council appointed Esparza-Stoffregan, who formerly served as principal of Valley High School and is currently president of the Nevada Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents.

The Clark County Commission voted to appoint Lisa Satory, who is principal of charter school Pinecrest Academy of Nevada.

Isaac Barron, appointed by the North Las Vegas City Council, is a North Las Vegas city councilman and former teacher at Rancho High School. He was also outspoken during the budget errors.

“I wanted to express my individual gratitude to the Legislature, who followed up their wisdom in endowing the Clark County municipalities to appoint experienced educational professionals to the governing CCSD Board of Trustees. Showing positive results in this matter, the Legislature followed up by granting voting duties to the municipal appointeds,” Barron said.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.