Although the Nevada Legislature didn’t convene in 2024 that doesn’t mean we haven’t been working on our priority issues. We’d like to give you an update on two of them.
Universal School Meals
Last session (2023), Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed AB319 which would have provided funding for universal no cost school meals. While we were disappointed, we didn’t give up on the issue and have been working to find a way to get this issue done for Nevada families. While it may be something we work on in 2025 we decided to investigate if there was another way to accomplish this goal and thankfully we believe we have found a path.
On February 28, 2024, the Governors Finance Office released an audit of all 17 public school districts and the State Public Charter School Authority. This report included a review of the participation rates by districts in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. At the time of the audit, the Identified Student Percentage (ISP) eligibility threshold was 40%. However the Federal Government lowered the threshold to 25% shortly after the audit was completed. With this change the Nevada Department of Agriculture put together a report showing that all 17 school districts now qualify for the CEP!
Our new Nevada Government Relations Director, Kendra Edwards, is working to ensure that schools/school districts know about this change before the start of the 2024-25 school year to determine what barriers might exist to enrolling in CEP and how to help districts through the process.
We also have a second priority issue we have been working on in the interim.
Cardiac Emergency Response Plans (CERP)
Schools never know when someone might experience a cardiac emergency and it is crucial they have a response plan to give the person experiencing the emergency the best chance at survival. AHA presented to the Interim Committee on Health and Human Services on April 8, 2024 on the need for schools to have a CERP. Following this meeting, we met with the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) team at the Nevada Department of Education to discuss the current requirements that schools must have. After several meetings and a presentation to their internal plan writing team, the Department of Education agreed to include CERP as part of their standard model plan.
Representatives from the NFL were also present during these meetings, in addition to donating AEDs to all Title 1 high schools in the state with football programs, they have agreed to assist any school in Nevada in receiving an AED. Clark and Washoe counties, the two largest districts in the state, did have CERP regulations in place prior to this but now students, teachers, staff, and parents across the state will have the benefit of trained responders and AEDs on campus in case of a cardiac event.
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