Nevada Department of Education

The Nevada Department of Education (NDOE) is a semi-independent state education agency responsible for public education for the U.S. state of Nevada. It is composed of the Nevada State Board of Education, the State Board for Career and Technical Education, and the Nevada superintendent of public instruction. It is responsible for administering and setting education policies, ensuring local compliance for federally-funded education programs such as Title I and IDEA, and assists local school districts. Since 1968, higher education in Nevada has been governed by the separate Nevada System of Higher Education.

Appointed by the governor under the executive branch, the superintendent of public instruction serves as the department’s executive officer and secretary to the board, responsible for enforcing education laws and supervising K–12 education statewide. The partially-elected board determines the policy priorities, student outcome goals, assessments, as well as approving and reviewing data. When there is a vacancy in the superintendent position, the board creates a short list of candidates from which the governor may choose.

Before the 1956 reorganization of Nevada's K–12 education system, the department existed but was not explicitly created by law. Several laws refer had referred to it, but no law ever created it until the 8th Special Session of the Nevada Legislature. Similar to most Nevada state agencies, NDOE is headquartered at the capital, Carson City, but maintains a significant presence in Las Vegas.

Charter schools are regulated under the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority, as well as each of the 17 county and independent city-based public school districts in the state. The largest, the Clark County School District, serves over 300,000 students and is the fifth largest school district in the United States behind New York City, LA Unified, Chicago, and Miami-Dade.

Together with the Nevada State Police, the department launched the SafeVoice in 2018, a mobile app and telephone hotline for anonymous reports of actual or suspected abuse, self-harm, bullying, and violent behavior. Anyone can submit reports which are immediately received by Nevada State Police.