1. Except as otherwise provided in this section and NRS 388D.330, boards of trustees of school districts shall schedule and provide a minimum of 180 days of free school in the districts under their charge.

2. Except for an alternative schedule described in subsection 3, the Superintendent of Public Instruction may, upon application by the board of trustees of a school district, authorize the school district to provide a program of instruction based on an alternative schedule if the number of minutes of instruction to be provided is equal to or greater than the number of minutes of instruction that would be provided in a program of instruction consisting of 180 school days. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall notify the board of trustees of the school district of the approval or denial of the application not later than 30 days after the Superintendent of Public Instruction receives the application. An alternative schedule proposed pursuant to this subsection must be developed in accordance with chapter 288 of NRS. If a school district is located in a county whose population is 100,000 or more, the board of trustees of the school district may not submit an application pursuant to this subsection unless the proposed alternative schedule of the school district:

(a) Will apply only to a rural portion or a remote portion of the county in which the school district is located, as defined by the State Board pursuant to subsection 6; or

(b) Is designed solely for the purpose of providing regular professional development to educational personnel and such professional development is focused on analyzing and discussing measures of the performance of pupils and identifying appropriate instructional strategies to improve the achievement of pupils.

3. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may, upon application by the board of trustees of a school district, authorize a reduction of not more than 15 school days in that particular district to establish or maintain an alternative schedule consisting of a 12-month school program if the board of trustees demonstrates that the proposed alternative schedule for the program provides for a number of minutes of instruction that is equal to or greater than that which would be provided under a program consisting of 180 school days. Before authorizing a reduction in the number of required school days pursuant to this subsection, the Superintendent of Public Instruction must find that the proposed alternative schedule will be used to alleviate problems associated with a growth in enrollment or overcrowding.

4. The Superintendent of Public Instruction may, upon application by a board of trustees, authorize the addition of minutes of instruction to any scheduled day of free school if days of free school are lost because of any interscholastic activity. Not more than 5 days of free school so lost may be rescheduled in this manner. The provisions of this subsection do not apply to an alternative schedule approved pursuant to subsection 2.

5. The number of minutes of instruction required for a particular group of pupils in a program of instruction based on an alternative schedule approved pursuant to this section and NRS 388.095 and 388.097 must be determined by multiplying the appropriate minimum daily period of instruction established by the State Board by regulation for that particular group of pupils by 180.

6. The State Board shall adopt regulations defining a rural portion of a county and a remote portion of a county for the purposes of subsection 2.

[244:32:1956] — (NRS A 1973, 261; 1987, 1024; 1991, 1366; 1995, 2521; 2001, 3156; 2003, 3215; 2005, 257, 518; 2007, 28; 2019, 1979)