The State Public Charter School Authority board on a virtual meeting on Nov. 1 reviewed 2024–25 Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF) and SPCSA academic-framework results, approved a slate of staff recommendations to remove or modify academic notices for many schools, granted enrollment-cap and facility approvals for charter campuses, and renewed several charter contracts for multi-year terms.

SPCSA Executive Director McAden opened the meeting by briefing the board on monitoring and preopening work, saying the agency had “maintained a 100% compliance on 23 different metrics for the very first time,” and highlighting a near doubling of pre-K seats in the 2025–26 school year to roughly 450 seats across nine charter schools, with more than 600 families on waiting lists at those sites.

The board heard a detailed data presentation from SPCSA staff (Brandon Gaetan and Mary Holstahl) showing SPCSA-authorized schools outperformed statewide averages: about 85% of SPCSA schools earned a 3-star NSPF rating or higher while roughly half of SPCSA schools earned 5 stars. Staff outlined how NSPF proficiency and growth metrics, ZIP-code comparisons and chronic-absenteeism measures feed into the SPCSA academic performance framework and then presented recommended authority actions (remove, continue, elevate, or reduce academic notices) tied to those metrics and to statutory consequences in NRS 388.300 and the SB 460 exemption from the 2025 legislative session.

Public comment and a technical framework question
Ignacio Bridal, executive director of Futura Academy Charter School, used the public-comment period to flag a technical concern with the SPCSA student-group comparison indicator. Bridal said the framework can unintentionally penalize schools whose subgroup outcomes are strong relative to statewide peers when the overall school sample is already very high, and suggested adding a floor so well-performing subgroups are not docked points. Staff confirmed charter-renewal items were on the agenda and invited further dialogue on technical refinements.

Enrollment-cap and facility actions
The board approved several amendment requests under agenda item 5. Matter Academy of Nevada asked for a good-cause exemption to increase enrollment caps at its East and Cactus campuses; staff recommended approval based on sustained academic results and facility capacity, and the board granted the exemption unanimously after Matter representatives described transition challenges and early academic gains.

Pinecrest Academy of Nevada won approval to relocate its Springs campus to a permanent facility at 2850 South Lindell Road (Las Vegas, 89146) — a 47,489-square-foot site on about 6.09 acres formerly occupied by the Lide Memorial Boys and Girls Club — and to raise the Springs campus cap to 681 students beginning in the 2026–27 school year. Principal Jessica Medina said the school will pursue a transportation grant, partner with sister campuses for busing and continue before- and after-school care to help families; the motion passed unanimously with the condition that the school complete SPCSA preopening requirements.

Academic notices: removals, continuations, escalations
Staff recommended and the board acted on dozens of school-specific notices based on NSPF and SPCSA framework results. Highlights include:

- Removal to good standing: Coral Academy of Science (Nellis AFB elementary), Civica Nevada Career and Collegiate Academy (elementary and middle), Imagine Schools at Mountain View (elementary), Mater Academy of Northern Nevada (elementary), Quest Preparatory Academy (elementary), Silver Sands Montessori (elementary), Somerset Academy (various campuses), and others where schools met or exceeded thresholds. Coral’s leadership noted student transiency tied to military deployments and announced a planned expansion groundbreaking.

- Continuation or elevation: Democracy Prep Nevada elementary’s notice of breach was continued after a second consecutive 1-star NSPF rating; Sage Collegiate Elementary and other schools with consecutive 1-star ratings were recommended for elevation to breach; Explore Academy Middle School had three consecutive 1-star ratings but met the SB 460 exemption (its NSPF score was within 10 points of the 2-star threshold), so SPCSA staff recommended continuing the notice of breach with close monitoring.

- New notices of concern: Discovery Charter School Hillpoint Middle School and Founders Classical Academy Elementary were among schools recommended for an academic notice of concern based on 2024–25 results and framework findings.

School leaders who spoke described specific corrective steps: strategies included targeted instructional coaching, adoption of interim assessment systems (e.g., i-Ready), weekly data-driven PLCs, expanded MTSS and intervention systems, attention to staffing stability and efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism. Several school leaders thanked SPCSA staff for site visits and technical assistance.

Charter renewals and terms
Under agenda item 29, SPCSA staff recommended multi-year charter renewals after reviewing performance and organizational indicators. The board approved renewals including (summaries):

- Beacon Academy — recommended 6-year renewal beginning 07/01/2026 after consistent performance on the Nevada alternative performance framework.
- Elko Institute for Academic Achievement — recommended renewal (prior term referenced) and staff recommended a multi-year term (presentation noted consistent 4-star+ performance).
- Futuro Academy (Futura) — recommended six-year renewal after sustained ratings.
- Nevada RISE Academy — recommended 4-year renewal (staff cited mixed performance over the charter term).
- Pinecrest Academy of Northern Nevada — recommended 7-year renewal (noting strong historic academic performance though the school did have a prior three-year stretch of financial metric flags tied to debt-to-asset ratios that staff noted as addressed).
- Somerset Academy of Las Vegas — recommended 6-year renewal across multiple campuses after generally strong performance.

Board members approved each renewal by voice vote as presented by staff; motions carried by unanimous voice vote or roll call where recorded.

What happens next
Most board votes adopted staff recommendations without substantive amendment. For schools on notices of breach tied to repetitive 1-star NSPF results, SPCSA staff emphasized the statutory pathway under NRS 388.300 that can lead to mandatory termination if a campus receives three consecutive 1-star ratings and does not meet the SB 460 exemption criteria; the board’s current actions largely align with monitoring, intervention and escalation steps embedded in state law and the authority’s frameworks. Several schools were required to include explicit academic goals in their updated school performance plans and to undergo site evaluation visits during the 2025–26 school year.

Board members and school leaders closed the meeting by offering continued partnership and by noting opportunities for board members and SPCSA staff to assist struggling campuses; Chair Thigpen adjourned the meeting at 12:14 p.m.

Votes at a glance (selected items)
- Consent agenda (minutes, routine items): motion carried unanimously.
- Matter Academy (good-cause exemption; increase East and Cactus caps): motion carried unanimously (mover: Member Holmes Sutton; second: Member Shanti Rosales).
- Pinecrest Springs (facility relocation to 2850 S. Lindell Rd. and increase cap to 681; preopening condition required): motion carried unanimously (mover: Member Holmes Sutton; second: Member Shanti Rosales).
- Adoption of staff recommendations on SPCSA academic framework and related authority actions (presentation and motions to proceed with individual school votes): motion carried unanimously.
- Selected notice outcomes: Coral Academy notice of breach removed to good standing (motion carried unanimously); Democracy Prep elementary notice of breach continued (motion carried unanimously); Discovery Hill Point Middle School issued a notice of concern (motion carried unanimously); Future Edge Charter Academy elementary issued an academic notice of breach (motion carried unanimously).

The SPCSA posted written recommendation memos and attachments with data tables and proposed motions for each agenda item; schools are subject to follow-up oversight or site evaluation as specified in each recommendation memo.