Esmeralda County School District is a public school district in Esmeralda County, Nevada. It is the smallest school district in Nevada. Its boundary is that of the county. The district has offices in Dyer and Goldfield.
As of May 2022, the school district operates 3 elementary and middle schools and one online high school; the district has no physical high school, and high school students are transported to Tonopah. All schools, including the online school, run on a four-day school week. However, the Fifth District and other state school districts were plagued by severe funding inequity.
Aware that Nevada public schools were facing significant financial difficulties, Governor Charles H. Russell appointed the School Survey Committee to assist in reorganizing the state's education system. and the reorganization of the school districts left Esmeralda County School District without a high school. Three years later, the Esmeralda County school board petitioned to merge with the Nye County School District, which ultimately proved unsuccessful: Nye County did not have the resources to support students in Esmeralda County. However, the counties formed an agreement to allow students in Esmeralda County to attend high school in Nye County. 13.86% of students had an Individualized Education Program, 9.9% were English language learners, and 98.02% met the state's definition of poverty.
|-
! 2003–2004 !! 2004–2005 !! 2005–2006 !! 2006–2007 !! 2007–2008 !! 2008–2009 !! 2009–2010 !! 2010–2011 !! 2011–2012
|-
| 69 || 68 || 86 || 68 || 77 || 68 || 69 || 66 || 64
|-
! 2012–2013 !! 2013–2014 !! 2014–2015 !! 2015–2016 !! 2016–2017 !! 2017–2018 !! 2018–2019 !! 2019–2020 !! 2020–2021
|-
| 67 || 78 || 74 || 78 || 75 || 73 || 96 || 81 || 101
|}
Education
All schools in the Esmeralda County School District operate on a four-day week to reduce expenses. Employees of the district typically serve multiple roles, with one or two teachers instructing multiple grades on various subjects, and other members of the district substituting for unavailable teachers or bus drivers.
Schools
The Esmeralda County School District has three K-8 schools. Students in grades 9 through 12 may either attend the online-only Esmeralda Virtual High School, or Tonopah High School in Tonopah, Nevada, which is operated by the Nye County School District.
District officials stated the policy was meant to help English-speaking bus drivers maintain disciplinary control over students, as well as help Spanish-speaking students improve their English. However, the policy was swiftly criticized as discriminatory, with opponents pointing to the sizable Hispanic population in the school district—at the time, 12 of 30 high school students were Hispanic, and the letter informing families of the policy had been published in both English and Spanish. Tonopah High School and the Nye County School District also lacked an English-only rule, and the principal of Tonopah High School was reportedly unaware of its neighbor's English-only rule. Critics added that it did not make sense to establish the policy in response to two students potentially misbehaving, and that it would have been sufficient to address the specific students.
See also
- Non-high school district