Local school board trustee will visit Washington DC to represent Nevada schools

For the past 60 years, the Nevada Association of School Boards (NASB) has worked to help Nevada’s school districts collaborate and improve public education. 

Serving as Clerk for the Humboldt County School District Board of Trustees (HCSDBT), Nicole Bengochea also wears another hat, taking up the position of President-Elect for the NASB for 2023. 

At the end of January, Bengochea will be traveling to Washington, DC with others from the NASB for three days, where she will be meeting with Congress and helping to represent all 17 of Nevada’s counties on a national level. 

The NASB is known for “identifying leadership potential and building leadership capacity on local school boards,” “defining and expanding educational advocacy,” and “more efficiently using resources.” All aspects have multi-faceted importance.

According to Bengochea, “this is the first time in quite a few years that Nevada is going to send representation that way.”

Bengochea said “Our job right now in the legislative session is to read through the bills…We look at all of it together as a group and we say collectively as a state, how is it going to affect our districts? Is that something we want to support? Is it something moving forward that we should fight? Should we not fight?”

With Nevada having fallen from “fourth in the nation on the basis of money spent per pupil” in 1963, to “47th in the nation on basis of money spent per pupil” today, Bengochea said that funding and protecting Nevada’s ability to elect school board members are NASB’s main concerns for 2023.

Maintaining or increasing funding for Nevada schools seems to always be a concern, with the Humboldt County School District recently losing millions of dollars after an oversight within a bill having to do with net proceeds of minerals. 

“I believe it’s $3 billion to make our funding to be even adequate with what it should be. To be at the national standard, Nevada would have to put in $3 billion,” explained Bengochea.

NASB represents Nevada through participation with the National School Boards Association as well, “lead[ing] the national conversation about public education, advocat[ing] for public policies that ensure each student everywhere has access to an excellent public education where they live, creat[ing] a better understanding of the importance of school boards and the benefits of local governance, and enhanc[ing] the effectiveness of school boards”.

When she began her journey with the HCSDBT eight years ago, Bengochea explained that being a voice for students and parents is fundamentally why she got involved and ran for a seat. 

“I just wanted to be involved in whatever situation was going on with the kids and know, not just for my kids. There are also kids that really don’t have a voice or somebody to show up for them, essentially, and ask the questions,” explained Bengochea.