Governor Lombardo Statement on Results of Statewide Education Audit

Today, Governor Lombardo released the following statement on the results of the Statewide Education Audit mandated by Executive Order 2023-005 and administered by the Governor’s Finance Office, Division of Internal Audits.

“In one of my first Executive Orders last year, I mandated an audit of Nevada’s 17 Public School Districts and the State Public Charter School Authority,” said Governor Joe Lombardo. “I firmly believe that our unprecedented investment into K-12 education warrants unprecedented accountability and fiscal responsibility. The audit highlighted existing shortcomings within our education system, and my administration will use the audit’s findings to shape our Acing Accountability initiative and education reform in our state.”

The Office of the Governor identified several key findings from the audit, including:

• Importance of Eliminating Fragmented Oversight: Currently, there are numerous boards and commissions with various duties and oversight responsibilities related to K-12 education. The audit found that these efforts need to be unified and uniform.
• Importance of Maximizing New K-12 Dollars: The audit reported that investments in Nevada’s K-12 education system must be hyper-targeted to achieve better academic outcomes.
• Importance of Reinstituting Critical Literacy Benchmarks via Read by Grade 3: The audit reiterated the importance of students achieving reading proficiency by third grade, as reading skills are critical to all aspects of students’ educational success.

The audit followed Governor Lombardo’s repeated calls for increased transparency and accountability within Nevada’s education system and the release of NevadaESSER.org, a state website created to inform the public how federal relief dollars are spent by school districts and charter schools across Nevada.

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