Zoning of school district by board of trustees; establishment of zones does not preclude pupils attendance at certain other public schools; board of trustees to adopt policies and procedures governing pupils attendance at public school outside zone of attendance; review of such policies and procedures by Superintendent of Public Instruction; regulations.
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 388.040
in effect1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, the board of trustees of a school district that includes more than one school which offers instruction in the same grade or grades may zone the school district and determine which pupils must attend each school.
2. The establishment of zones pursuant to subsection 1 does not preclude a pupil from attending a:
(a) Charter school;
(b) University school for profoundly gifted pupils;
(c) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend if the pupil is a child in foster care who is remaining in his or her school of origin pursuant to NRS 388E.105 ;
(d) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend if the pupil has been issued a fictitious address pursuant to NRS 217.462 to 217.471 , inclusive, or the parent or legal guardian with whom the pupil resides has been issued a fictitious address pursuant to NRS 217.462 to 217.471 , inclusive; or
(e) Public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend if the public school is not at capacity in the grade level of the pupil and the pupil is approved to attend the school pursuant to this section.
3. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall:
(a) Establish a process to review the policies and procedures of school districts adopted pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 4 to determine if such policies and procedures are consistent with the requirements of this section.
(b) Ensure that any application of a school district for pupils to apply to attend a school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2 is made available in the five most common languages other than English primarily spoken in households in this State as determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which may include, without limitation, Spanish and Tagalog.
(c) On or before the first day of each calendar quarter, publish, on the Internet website maintained by the Department, the number of vacancies for each grade level in each public school in this State.
(d) On the Internet website maintained by the Department, annually publish data describing, for pupils who transferred between schools located in different zones of attendance pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2:
(1) The total number of pupils who transferred between schools located in different zones of attendance during the previous school year; and
(2) For each public school, the number of pupils who transferred into and out of the school pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2 during the previous school year.
4. The board of trustees of each school district shall:
(a) Adopt policies and procedures governing the attendance of pupils at schools outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2. Such policies and procedures must:
(1) Not deem a pupil ineligible to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2 on an arbitrary basis, including, without limitation, based on the home address of the pupil;
(2) Require all public schools within the school district, except for magnet schools, career and technical academies and dual enrollment high schools, to be open to the attendance of pupils pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2, subject to capacity;
(3) Prohibit the assessment of any tuition or fees by a public school within the school district to a pupil who attends the school pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2;
(4) Include a procedure for pupils to apply to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 2, including, without limitation, the date each year on which the school district will begin accepting applications and the annual deadline by which an application must be submitted;
(5) Not require a pupil to complete an application to attend a public school unless the pupil is requesting to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that the pupil is otherwise required to attend;
(6) Provide for the notification of a pupil and his or her parent or legal guardian, and the principals of the schools involved in the transfer of the pupil, if an application is approved; and
(7) Include a method to determine which pupils to enroll in any grade level within a public school for which applications exceed the capacity limits established pursuant to paragraph (c), which:
(I) Must give priority to pupils who live in the zone of attendance for a public school that received, in the immediately preceding school year, one of the two lowest ratings of performance pursuant to the statewide system of accountability for public schools; and
(II) Except as otherwise provided in sub-subparagraph (I), may include, without limitation, a lottery.
(b) On or before the first day of each calendar quarter, publish on the Internet website maintained by the school district the number of vacancies for each grade level in each public school in the school district.
(c) Determine the capacity for each grade level within each public school in the school district in accordance with the provisions of this section and annually publish such capacity on the Internet website maintained by the school district not later than 90 days before the date on which the school district will begin accepting applications from pupils to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to attend. The capacity determined pursuant to this paragraph must not be reduced during the period in which the school district accepts such applications unless a significant change in circumstances, which was unforeseeable at the time the capacity was published pursuant to this section, necessitates such a change, including, without limitation, a change in capacity due to an issue with the facilities of the public school. If the capacity of a public school is reduced during the period in which the school district accepts such applications, the board of trustees shall ensure that, not later than 15 days before the earliest date on which decisions on such applications are to be made, there is published on the Internet website maintained by the school district a written explanation of the change in circumstances which necessitated the reduction in capacity.
(d) Require a public school in the school district to enroll a pupil whose application submitted in accordance with the policies and procedures adopted pursuant to paragraph (a) has been approved, so long as the public school has capacity at the grade level of the pupil without taking into consideration the capacity of any specialized program.
(e) Allow a pupil whose application submitted in accordance with the policies and procedures adopted pursuant to paragraph (a) has been approved to permanently transfer to that public school without requiring an additional application in any subsequent school year.
(f) Adopt a uniform methodology for calculating the capacity of each public school within the school district for the purposes of paragraph (c). The methodology must be publicly documented, applied consistently across all public schools within the school district and published on the Internet website maintained by the school district. The methodology adopted by a school district must calculate the capacity of each public school within the school district based on:
(1) Maximum building occupancy; or
(2) An occupancy level of not more than 1 person per 40 square feet of instructional space.
(g) Prepare and submit an annual report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction describing:
(1) The number of applications to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to attend that were received by the school district and the number of such applications that were approved or denied; and
(2) For each application that was denied, the reason the board of trustees of the school district denied the application.
5. The application process established by the board of trustees of a school district pursuant to subsection 4 must prohibit the consideration of any of the following factors in determining whether to approve an application:
(a) The academic, artistic or athletic ability of a pupil;
(b) The participation of a pupil in any extracurricular activity or the skill of a pupil in such an activity;
(c) Whether a pupil is a pupil with a disability;
(d) Whether a pupil is an English learner;
(e) The address at which the pupil resides; or
(f) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, whether a pupil has previously been subject to any disciplinary action. The board of trustees of a school district may deny the application of a pupil who, in the school year for which the application is submitted or in the immediately preceding school year, was suspended for 10 or more days or expelled.
6. If an application to attend a public school outside the zone of attendance that a pupil is otherwise required to attend is denied or no action is taken on the application, the parent or legal guardian of the pupil may appeal the denial or lack of action to the superintendent of the school district and he or she shall promptly approve or deny the application. The decision of the superintendent of the school district is final.
7. The board of trustees of a school district may accept gifts and grants to carry out the provisions of subsections 3 to 6, inclusive.
8. The State Board shall adopt regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.
9. As used in this section:
(a) Expelled has the meaning ascribed to expel or expulsion in NRS 392.4603 .
(b) Instructional space does not include:
(1) A gymnasium;
(2) A theater;
(3) An administrative office;
(4) A cafeteria; and
(5) A storage space.
(c) Suspended has the meaning ascribed to suspend or suspension in NRS 392.4607 .
Source: NV Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-388.htmlFetched: 10/4/2026