MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Eighty-First Session February 2, 2021 The Committee on Education was called to order by Chair Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod at 1:43 p.m. on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, Online. Copies of the minutes, including the Agenda (Exhibit A), the Attendance Roster (Exhibit B), and other substantive exhibits, are available and on file in the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau and on the Nevada Legislature's website at www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/81st2021. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, Chair Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, Vice Chair Assemblywoman Bea Duran Assemblyman Edgar Flores Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner Assemblywoman Elaine Marzola Assemblyman Richard McArthur Assemblywoman Rochelle T. Nguyen Assemblywoman Jill Tolles Assemblywoman Selena Torres COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT: None STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Kristi Robusto, Committee Policy Analyst Amanda Marincic, Committee Counsel Sarah Baker, Committee Secretary Joan Waldock, Committee Secretary Melissa Loomis, Committee Assistant Minutes ID: 109 *CM109* Assembly Committee on Education February 2, 2021 Page 2 OTHERS PRESENT: None Chair Bilbray-Axelrod: [Roll was called and Committee protocols explained.] Welcome to the first meeting for the Assembly Committee on Education for the 2021 Legislative Session. Please note for the record that we do have a quorum. We are going to start with public comment. [There was none.] We will come back to public comment at the end. We are going to do some welcomes and introductions today. We are going to consider Committee policies, review background Committee briefs, and hear an update on legislation passed during the 80th Legislative Session. Before we begin, I would like everyone to be familiar with our Committee members, myself, and the staff. I will start with myself. I know everyone loves introducing themselves, so we are going to say our name, where we are from, our district, when we were elected, and in the spirit of our former chairperson, Tyrone Thompson, something fun that maybe we might not know about you. I am Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod. I was first elected in 2016, so this is my third session. I am very excited to be chairing this Committee. I am a mother to an amazing 13-year-old girl named Molly, and it has been an interesting year for my husband and I with virtual school. I am sure many of you can relate. The fun thing that I am going to tell you—I met my husband when I was a barista at Starbucks. He was my first customer, and he would come in every morning at 5:30 a.m. on his way to teach kindergarten in Compton. We had a little romance over the counter for several months before he got the nerve to ask me out, and the rest is history. I have a long line of educators in my family, everything from regular educators all the way up to administration and even at the collegiate level. That is something kind of fun about me. We will move on to my amazing Vice Chair, Brittney Miller. Assemblywoman Miller: I am excited to be here and to have the opportunity to serve as vice chair. This is also my third session. I represent Assembly District No. 5 down in Las Vegas in the Summerlin Lakes area. This is also my third session on the Education Committee. I also served two sessions on the interim Education Committee. As many people know, I am a Clark County school teacher, so education is obviously something that I live and breathe pretty much every minute of the day. I am glad to be here and looking forward to the work we will be able to do during this session to continue to advance education for everyone in the state. Chair Bilbray-Axelrod: Are you going to tell us something we might not know about you? Assembly Committee on Education February 2, 2021 Page 3 Assemblywoman Miller: I cannot think of anything very interesting, but if I think of something, I will let you know. Chair Bilbray-Axelrod: That is okay, because I forgot to say my district: I represent Assembly District No. 34, which is part of Summerlin, part of Desert Shores, next to the Community College of Southern Nevada. Next, I will call on Assemblyman Flores. Assemblyman Flores: I represent Assembly District No. 28 here in the great state of Nevada. I represent northeast Las Vegas. I have had the pleasure of serving on this Committee since 2015, and I look forward to working alongside all of you. I know we have some very passionate human beings here. Hopefully, we can do some good work for our students. I do not really have anything fun, but I am big into mentoring. I think mentoring is incredibly important. I have been doing it since 2002. That is my passion. I think we have a responsibility to help each other out. Assemblywoman Tolles: It is so wonderful to see everyone—old friends and new friends—and wonderful that we can come together virtually here. I represent Assembly District No. 25, which is in northern Nevada and covers west Reno all the way to the California border. I have some experience in education myself: I teach at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and I taught at Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) as well for five years. I have been teaching at UNR for about 16 years now. I am a proud mom of two beautiful daughters. One has graduated from high school and now is attending college, and the other one is in her senior year in the Washoe County School District. We are experiencing all the joys of online education ourselves. I have been able to make that transition as a teacher and have had all those experiences myself as well as being a mom of a student, so I bring that view to this Committee this session. Something you might not know about me: I was not a great student in high school, and I actually got my start at community college, which is why it is so near and dear to my heart. It was at community college that I had a few teachers that really poured into me, and I ended up doing well my first semester away from home, got good grades, and thought, Wow, I could do anything. That inspired me to then go on to a university. I never thought I would ever graduate from a university, let alone teach at one, and I can tell you very specifically that it was some teachers that believed in me more than I believed in myself that really changed my life. One of the reasons why I am so passionate about education is because it did not always come easily to me. I am grateful for people who invested in me, and I got the opportunity to invest in others. I want to see every student in Nevada have that same chance to succeed. Assembly Committee on Education February 2, 2021 Page 4 Assemblywoman Krasner: I was first elected in November 2016. I have served three regular sessions in the Nevada Legislature and two special sessions. Chair Bilbray-Axelrod and I were freshmen the same year when we entered the Legislature. I have been on this Committee for all three sessions. Education is so important to everybody because our children are the future of our state and our country. I also have a background in education, teaching at the University of Phoenix in political science, advocacy and mediation, and business law to the M.B.A. students, and at TMCC teaching courses on the U.S. Constitution and the Nevada Constitution for more than a decade. Assembly District No. 26 is the district that I am proud and honored to represent, and something you do not know about me is . I cannot really think of anything. I think you know everything about me. Assemblywoman Duran: I represent Assembly District No. 11, which is in downtown Las Vegas as well as part of the east side. I was appointed in 2019. I am a grievance specialist for the Culinary Union (Local 226). I have worked with the rank and file in the hospitality industry. I represent many workers through the grievance process to try to get resolution and find a happy medium. My district is an underserved community and I think education is going to be key for all of us. We have many uncharted territories to overcome and I think we can do that with this Committee. Education is key for all our children, our future. I am a mother of two and a grandmother of four, so I have a vested interest in my grandchildren having the best education possible. I look forward to working with everybody. One thing about me is that my nickname is Bea, so I have a lot of bees. I have quite a collection, not only here in Reno, but in Las Vegas. I have a lot of bees surrounding me. Assemblywoman Gorelow: I represent Assembly District No. 35, which is in southwest Las Vegas. If you are familiar with the area, it is the Mountain's Edge and Southern Highlands area known as Coronado Ranch. I was first elected in 2018. This is my second session, and my second session on the Education Committee. I was also on the interim Education Committee. I am very excited to be here and continue our hard work. I have two children. Both are now in high school.