Nevada’s top deaf and hard-of-hearing advocates are turning up the volume on lawmakers, pushing for a state-run school for deaf students and a stronger pipeline of qualified interpreters to keep up with demand.
The Nevada Commission for Persons Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing wants an inclusive Nevada School for the Deaf, staffed in part by Deaf teachers and specialists, so students are not entirely dependent on scarce American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. Supporters say that kind of campus would especially benefit students with additional disabilities such as deaf-blindness or autism, who often need more intensive and consistent support. Families and school districts say they are already dealing with chronic shortages of qualified interpreters and uneven access to proper one-on-one services.
Advocates laid out their case publicly this month, and Nevada Current reported that Shelly Freed argued having teachers and personnel who are Deaf "would reduce use of interpreters and interpreter services overall." Eli Schwartz told the outlet that recognizing ASL for academic credit could help steer more students toward the interpreting profession. The same report highlighted concerns from Rique Robb that some schools are plugging gaps with aides who only have basic signing skills instead of certified interpreters in critical one-on-one roles. Commission Executive Director Obioma Officer said legislative advisers have essentially told the commission "to just ask for it" as members map out their next steps.
Those priorities are spelled out in the commission’s Feb. 11 meeting agenda. The document asks members to pursue ASL as a foreign-language credit, closed-caption requirements in public spaces, and an "Inclusive/Bicultural" Nevada School for the Deaf as a key project of the Education Subcommittee. It also recommends that lawmakers give state administrators clearer authority to address compliance problems in medical and educational settings, as outlined in the commission agenda. The item list shows plans for more town halls and legislative outreach ahead of the next session.
Why advocates want a state school
The commission’s 2025 Position on Education argues that early language access and direct instruction from trained Deaf educators are key to stronger language and literacy outcomes for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The paper calls for investment in interpreter training programs, proctors and testing sites that would expand Nevada’s pool of qualified educational interpreters. Those recommendations form the backbone of the commission’s effort to explore what a Nevada School for the Deaf might look like and how it could be funded.
Political hurdles and past bills
Lawmakers have flirted with the idea before. In 2019, Sen. Pat Spearman sponsored a measure that initially called for an interim study on creating a public school for pupils who are blind, visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing. Later committee records show some of that language was deleted by amendment, according to the Nevada Legislature. Advocates told commissioners that reviving parts of that earlier bill, or attaching a dedicated study to a new bill draft request, could give the current push a more defined legislative path.
Interpreter shortages are a day-to-day problem
On the ground, school districts are already improvising. The Clark County School District says its Interpreting Services division provides ASL interpreting, speech-to-text support and “temporary 1:1 sign language aide (SLA) support” to meet student needs. The state keeps an Interpreter/CART registry, but commissioners and educators counter that a list of names will not solve the shortage without paid training pipelines, scholarship incentives and more in-state testing proctors for interpreters.
What comes next
The commission plans additional outreach and research and has signaled it will work with partners to turn its recommendations into bill language for a future session. The Feb. 11 agenda shows plans to formally agendize a Nevada Deaf School workgroup and to seek community-sponsored bill drafts. Advocates told Nevada Current they hope ASL credit recognition and stronger interpreter standards will anchor any eventual package. For now, the commission’s efforts amount to a coordinated statewide push that will only succeed if lawmakers commit real funding and school districts follow through on training, so that access for deaf and hard-of-hearing students becomes a guarantee rather than a daily question mark.
