Schools in the Las Vegas area show improvement in star ratings, math and English language arts

There's good news for schools in the Clark County School District -- The Nevada Report Card released on Monday shows positive results when it comes to student learning.

More than 136 of CCSD's nearly 370 schools improved their star ratings in the 2024-2025 school year.

Star ratings are a rating system that classifies school performance on a scale of one to five stars, with five being the best.

Star ratings are calculated through categories such as math and English language arts proficiency and growth, graduation rates, and student attendance.

Quannah McCall Elementary School's principal and CCSD leaders surprised teachers on Monday morning, revealing that they are officially a four-star school . That's a jump of two stars from the previous year.

"In ELA and math, we just really push tier one core instruction. That is the basis of everything that we do at the elementary level," said Amanda Lush, principal at the North Las Vegas school.

Lush, who took on her role just weeks before the COVID pandemic, says having children start learning early, as well as being fully staffed, also provided an advantage.

"We're fortunate at McCall that we do have two full-day pre-K programs, so we have 20 kids in each program, and that builds the foundation for everything," she said.

Counselor Gianna Rodriguez says that in an area facing more challenges than others, what has really improved student scores is involving parents.

"Our parents come to parent meetings once a month, and they learn skills about, you know, how to check their kids' grades, how to help with homework," said Rodriguez.

CCSD Superintendent Jhone Ebert was there to celebrate with teachers during the announcement. She said 48 schools received five stars, up from 28 schools in the previous year.

Overall, 37% of schools increased their star rankings.

Ebert says there are several factors that led to the improvements.

Making sure that we have high-quality tier one instruction," said Ebert. "Today is a professional development day. We need to make sure that all of our teachers have the training that they need to meet every single child where they're at right now. Also, too, we have parent-teacher conferences coming up at the elementary level.

Due to a cyber-attack that has caused an outage of some websites, individual data for math and English Language Arts proficiency are not yet available for the 2024-2025 school year.

However, according to the Nevada Department of Education, all grade levels in the state showed improvement in math and English Language Arts proficiency.

To compare, 30.1% of students in Clark County were proficient in math in the 2023-2024 school year, a 1.9 percentage-point increase compared to the 2022-23 school year.

In English Language Arts, the CCSD proficiency rate was 39.3%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous year.

"When we are all together next year, the data is going to show that we have surpassed pre-pandemic levels and are making a very steep climb on behalf of all of our children," said Ebert.

She says this year, the district is focusing on the Core 4: expanding pre-K, early literacy, increasing math scores, and workforce development at the high school level.

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Federal education funding freeze affects non-profits in the Las Vegas Valley

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Several non-profits in the Las Vegas valley are adjusting to losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in education funding after the Trump Administration put a freeze on some funding.

The White House announced earlier this month that it was reviewing $6.8 billion in education funding for some after-school and English language learning programs.

"We believe that we need to give youth exposure to items, you never know what's going to spark their interest," Yolanda Mationg, the chief development officer for the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Nevada, said.

There are 13 Boys & Girls Club locations across the Las Vegas valley, and they offer before-and-after-school programming for children from ages 5 to 18. Yet, a federal funding freeze has left them in a difficult position.

"I'm happy to say that at this time that we are not turning any members away. We do fundraising efforts to make up that gap," Mationg said.

One of those major fundraising efforts is the 12 ^th Annual Sneaker Ball taking place on Sept. 18 at the Donald W. Reynolds Clubhouse located at 2980 Robindale Road in Henderson.

When asked how much the organization needs to fundraise to make up for the federal funding gap, Mationg said, "I'm looking to fundraise a million dollars."

The White House previously said the pause is to review whether the funds align with President Donald Trump's policies.

"We have spent $3 trillion on education in our country since 1980, when this department was established, and our scores have continued to decline. We are not doing something right," said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on June 3 at a congressional hearing.

The Trump Administration unfroze $1.3 billion for after-school programs over the weekend, which could be good news for After-School All-Stars Greater Las Vegas.

The nonprofit's executive director Jodi Manzella said $1.5 million is being withheld, affecting programs at 13 Clark County School District schools.

U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nevada, held a press conference last Friday at After-School All-Stars, a nonprofit she founded.

"This type of uncertainty. Are the funds there? Are they not there? It's incredibly disruptive. It's not a way to run our country and it's certainly not a way to run an organization," Lee said.

According to the City of Las Vegas, it will not be offering free after-school programs through its ReInvent program at seven CCSD elementary schools as long as "the grant that funded it is frozen."

In an email to 8 News Now, the Nevada Department of Education stated it was notified that federal funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers would be released Monday. That is the grant After-School All-Stars relies on to fund its programs.

A spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Education said, 'The Nevada Department of Education remains committed to providing timely updates to grant recipients and stakeholders as additional information becomes available.'

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KCPS teachers worry that changes to loan forgiveness could be devastating

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - As Kansas City Public Schools prepare for the upcoming school year (in less than a month), some teachers are growing increasingly concerned – not just about the classroom, but about their financial future.

Lauren Jenkins, a teacher and union member with AFT Local 691 , spoke about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program , which allows teachers the ability to pay off their student loans after teaching for 10 years.

Conveniently, Jenkins is entering her 10th year of teaching.

The way it works is like this: teachers make qualifying payments during a decade of service, and then the program allows teachers like her to have remaining student loan debt forgiven. But that promise now feels less certain.

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"Teachers need to be aware of the fact that this can affect them immensely," Jenkins said.

A recent executive order signed by former President Donald Trump could reshape who qualifies for the program. The order directs the Department of Education to exclude certain organizations from PSLF eligibility if they engage in what the administration deems a "substantial illegal purpose." The rulemaking process is still underway, but changes could take effect as soon as July 1, 2026.

Jenkins said that the impending changes are already making educators question their future.

As it stands now, there will be a cap on the loans specifically for graduate service loans," Jenkins said. "That can greatly impact what furthering your education will look like. In the past, teachers could look into furthering their education and kind of like be a forever student just for the love of learning, and now, who knows what that might look like.

Carter Taylor, also a KCPS teacher and union member with AFT Local 691, said the language in the executive order could be applied broadly and unfairly.

"There was language attached to it, essentially making it so that if you engage in illegal activity, or if your organization does anything substantially considered illegal, you are subject to losing your public service loan forgiveness status, meaning every person who works will no longer be eligible to get public service loan forgiveness," Taylor said.

She worries the definition of "illegal" activity could be politicized, putting diverse districts like KCPS at risk.

When we talk about something being illegal, we need to take into account the context we're currently living in," Taylor said. "There is an administration that has arbitrarily deemed things legal or not legal, defying precedent.

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Taylor said schools like hers, which serve diverse communities and often advocate for immigrant students and other marginalized groups, could be targeted.

"If I were to look around in my school building, I would see faces from all over, from every walk of life. They are currently being targeted by the same administration that we are fighting against in court at the national level with the (AFT) union," she said.

Taylor believes that even simple actions, such as giving a Black History Month presentation or supporting immigrant students, could put the district's PSLF status at risk under the proposed rule changes.

The stakes are high, particularly for a profession already grappling with low pay and high expectations.

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It can cost up to $130,000 just to go through your four years of bachelor's education," Taylor said. "Teachers are entering the field with a lot of debt to do something they are not going to be well paid for.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program remains in effect for now, but union members like Jenkins and Taylor fear the future could bring irreversible changes, worsening an already serious staffing shortage for many school districts.

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"Not a good bill for higher education": Students would face changes in federal aid under the Senate version

MINNEAPOLIS — Colleges and universities are bracing for change after the massive policy bill passed the U.S. Senate this week, including serious cuts and restrictions to federal student loan programs, expansions to Pell Grants to fund short-term or workforce training, and a new accountability system for colleges based on their graduates’ earnings, ending federal loan eligibility if they fail.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," as it's formally called, also reduces repayment options for student loans, leaving only one income-based option. Loan payments will rise for many borrowers, particularly those with lower incomes.

The bill also allocates $10.5 billion to the Pell grant program, which has been underfunded for years. Pell is a federal initiative that provides financial aid for thousands of the neediest undergraduate students.

“The increase in Pell will help with the anticipated shortfall in Pell funding, making it possible for our students with higher need to continue pursuing their dreams,” said Susan Rundell Singer, president of St. Olaf College in Northfield.

The House still must approve the bill and were debating it late Wednesday. Then President Donald Trump must sign it; he has said previously he wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

The version passed by the Senate "isn't great, but relative to the (original) House bill, it's certainly better in our view," said Justin Monk, director of student and institutional aid policy at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).

I want to be crystal clear that this is a relative term," he added. "It is still not a good bill for higher education.

Several higher education leaders said they're happy the bill no longer contains dramatic cuts proposed in the House's initial bill, such as requiring students to take more credits to receive a full Pell Grant — or 7.5 credits per term to get any Pell Grant at all.

"We are glad to see the Senate removed language that would prevent part-time students access to the Pell Grant," said Scott Olson, chancellor of the Minnesota State system, which includes 33 public colleges and universities.

Olson said officials are "still concerned" about the changes that remain in the Senate bill, including eliminating the Grad PLUS loan program and restricting the Parent PLUS loan.

The Parent PLUS loan is now capped, allowing parents to borrow up to $20,000 per year, with a lifetime cap of $65,000 per dependent. The Grad PLUS loan, which was aimed at graduate and professional students, would end next July.

The bill passed by the Senate also sets a lifetime cap of $100,000 for federal graduate student borrowing, or $200,000 for professional school borrowing, on top of existing undergraduate limits. When a student reaches that amount, federal borrowing is discontinued.

These limits are a "sizable reduction" from what was allowed before, Monk said.

Some officials have said that these changes, taken together, may push more families and graduate students toward private student loans, which lack federal protections.

Monk said the loan changes put graduate students who want to enroll in some health programs or the arts in a pickle.

They’re going to run out of money much, much sooner," he said. "And they’ll have nowhere else to go but the private market.

Some people won't qualify for private loans, however, he said.

The result? Many prospective graduate students with lower incomes will simply no longer enroll in certain programs because they have no way to pay for them, meaning the composition of certain fields will change significantly.

(The students) are going to be wealthier," he said. "They're going to have to be.

At St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Lauran Hundshamer, vice president of enrollment, said changes to those two specific loan programs — Grad PLUS or Parent PLUS — would be "difficult" for some students there. They might not be able to pay for college or have to take out higher-interest loans with co-signers.

The House's version had included a "risk sharing" provision that required institutions to be financially responsible for former students' unpaid student loans and calculated financial aid awards based on the median national cost of a degree in a given major.

The accountability system outlined in the Senate bill aims to hold schools—and academic programs within them—responsible for their students' outcomes, with a specific focus on comparing graduates' salaries to those of other state residents who have either high school diplomas or bachelor's degrees four years after graduation.

It's not as bad an idea as the previous House proposals," Monk said, "but it puts programs on the hook for labor market outcomes, which they can't control.

Rundell Singer said she's concerned about this system. Some St. Olaf graduates eventually earn master's degrees in fields such as art, social work, and education.

The bill would end a college or university program's access to federal student loans if, for example, their master's degree graduates are not earning more than the median salary of a working adult with a bachelor's degree in their state.

A university that fails this test for two out of three years would lose access to federal student loans for its students for at least two years.

We need the students that we graduate to go on into the whole range of careers that are out there, including ones that maybe don't have a huge increase in earnings when you get that master's degree," Rundell Singer said. "It's a societal issue — it's thinking about higher ed as a public good.

Republicans and Democrats in both the U.S. House and Senate favored allowing students to receive Pell grants toward workforce training programs, which are typically shorter in length than degree or certificate programs.

This change would make more students eligible for Pell grant awards, such as those enrolled in programs that award certificates or licenses.

Allowing Pell grants to be used for short-term workforce programs is a "great idea," but students served by Wallin Education Partners, a Twin Cities nonprofit that provides scholarships and advising to college-bound, low-income students, all attend two- or four-year nonprofit institutions. It appears many of these shorter training programs are offered by for-profit institutions, said Mohamed Sallam, Wallin's CEO.

Some higher education officials worry that allowing Pell eligibility for this kind of training could lead students to enroll in low-quality programs.

Monk, from NAICU, said letting these programs access Pell money concerns him. Any program that's been around longer than a year and has a 70% completion rate can access the funds, Monk said. They must also have a 70% placement rate 180 days after graduation.

There's 'limited evidence that short-term programs have any benefit to graduates,' he said.

One report has shown that such programs offer no increases in employment or earnings, he said. But he added that there's limited data on outcomes because reporting them often hasn't been required.

We don't know how it's going to play out," he said. "While we find that out, they're going to be using the Pell grant program as a bit of a piggy bank.

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©2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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IUS to phase out or merge 19 programs to comply with new state law

A Southern Indiana campus that serves thousands of local students is set to reduce some degree offerings to comply with a new state requirement.

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education released a list This week, more than 400 degree programs across colleges and universities statewide are scheduled to be eliminated, phased out, or merged in compliance with a provision in Indiana's recently passed biennial budget bill.

The list outlines the voluntary submissions from six public colleges and universities recommending programming changes, according to a news release It states that the institutions were proactive in identifying "degree programs with zero-to-low enrollments and completions."

“Indiana’s institutions have set a national example,” said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Chris Lowery in the release. “The thoughtful, voluntary review and reduction conducted by Indiana’s public institutions demonstrates their commitment to improving quality, cost, and delivery while strategically allocating resources.”

Language near the end of the more than 200-page document Indiana HEA 1001 includes a requirement for institutions to seek approval to continue programs that don’t meet certain graduation thresholds.

That includes a minimum of 10 students for associate degree programs, 15 for bachelor's degree programs, and seven for master's degrees, averaged over the preceding three years.

The measure, which went into effect on Tuesday , states that if the commission does not grant approval, the institution must eliminate the degree program and any costs associated with it.

"During the most recent legislative session, one of our top agenda items included ensuring that Indiana's higher education institutions are preparing students for career opportunities in the most in-demand fields of today and the future," Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said in the news release.

He said the changes will help students make more informed decisions and ensure there is a direct connection between "the skills students are gaining through higher education and the skills they need most."

The Indiana University system is set to make the most changes, with 249 impacted programs across all campuses, according to the commission's list. Mark Bode, executive director of communications at IU Bloomington, said in an email the net loss would be 222 programs because of consolidations.

At IU Southeast, five programs are set to be suspended with a "teach-out toward elimination," including bachelor's degrees in French, economics, and fine arts.

Fourteen other programs are scheduled to be suspended "with a commitment to merge/consolidate."

This includes bachelor's degrees in journalism, media, and strategic communication; bachelor's degrees in education with specializations in mathematics and social studies; and bachelor's degrees in chemistry, physics, and international studies.

An IUS employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity told LPM News they felt overwhelmed when they saw the full list of all affected state schools.

But the person said at IUS, the active programs that have students enrolled are on the list to be merged, not eliminated.

I'm glad to see the programs preserved," the employee said. "That means we will still be able to serve the needs of our community, and that's our goal. That's our mission.

LPM News contacted a representative from IU Southeast regarding the changes, who referred the request for comment to Bode through IU Communications. He provided a link to a news release on IU Today .

"Degree programs that are currently enrolled under the minimum threshold will maintain normal operations through academic year 2025-26. Final decisions regarding programs under the threshold will not take effect until academic year 2026-27," the release read in part.

It states that the commission for higher education will review the recommendations later this month and finalize their decision.

At an event Tuesday in New Albany, Gov. Braun said he wasn't concerned that eliminating certain degree programs would discourage people from moving to Indiana.

Not at all," he said. "You can't afford to have degrees for everything out there, especially if there aren't any markets for it in our state.

He said Indiana needs more opportunities for education in STEM fields, which he said produce the highest paying jobs.

We need to get more of them, and I'm going to encourage colleges to do that," he said. "Line up where the good jobs are that have the highest wages. Those are the degrees that are going to be most important.

Information from the university shows IU Southeast had 3,752 students enrolled as of fall 2023. According to the IUS website, the campus currently offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 programs.

Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.

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