'Students Success' Agenda

Introduction

As a former public school math teacher, Aaron Ford saw that talent was universal, but access was not. Students’ potential was often constrained by circumstances beyond their control. That experience instilled in Ford a lasting belief that good policy should widen the circle of opportunity, and that leadership means ensuring every student has a fair chance to succeed.

In 2022, Joe Lombardo promised to improve Nevada’s education system—but our problems have not gotten better. After nearly four years of Lombardo's failed leadership, Nevada ranks near the bottom in education among all states. We're 46th for education and 47th for child wellbeing, while almost six out of ten 4th graders lack math proficiency and more than half of 4th graders lack reading proficiency.  Nevada’s classrooms are among the most crowded and worst funded in the nation, while graduation rates continue to lag. Despite all of that, Joe Lombardo supports Donald Trump's plan to eliminate the Department of Education and cut federal funding for Nevada schools.

While serving in the Nevada State Senate, Ford passed bipartisan legislation to recruit teachers for hard-to-fill roles and provide scholarships for Nevada students and future teachers. He worked to increase education funding for schools statewide and give parents more choice in their children’s education. And he fought to make sure every Nevada child—from Boulder City to Ely and everywhere in between—has the opportunity to succeed. 

As Nevada’s Attorney General, Ford sued the Trump administration for attempting to eliminate the Department of Education and with it the $1 billion Nevada receives each year. He sued a major national student loan servicer and won, delivering millions of dollars of student loan relief for Nevadans that had been harmed by deceptive and predatory lending practices. Ford fought the federal government’s efforts to cut support for Nevada schools and will continue to fight for Nevada in the Governor’s office. 

Section 1: Invest in Students and Educators

Under Joe Lombardo, one in four children in Nevada has no idea where their next meal is going to come from. No child can focus on schoolwork while hungry. Nevada schools are chronically underfunded, our class sizes are too big, and kids don’t receive every opportunity they deserve. Despite Nevada schools already being underfunded and students going hungry, Joe Lombardo supports Donald Trump’s attempts to end the Department of Education. The Lombardo-Trump plan to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education would threaten nearly $1 billion per year in funding for Nevada schools and students. If Lombardo and Trump get their way, funding for Pell Grants, community colleges, special education, career and technical education, and other essential services for Nevada students will be on the chopping block. Over the last five years, Nevada students and schools have been supported by the U.S. Department of Education with a total of nearly $6 billion in critical funding. 

As Governor, fighting for federal funding, funding Nevada schools and improving literacy rates will be a top priority for Aaron Ford. He will prioritize funding student-facing positions, set expectations around how much funding is going into instruction vs. administration, and be willing to cut programs or curriculum that aren’t producing results for our students. 

• Guarantee school breakfast and lunch: As Governor, Aaron Ford will guarantee school breakfast and lunch to all Nevada children. Kids can’t learn on an empty stomach and are less likely to come to school if they’re hungry or facing the shame of not having money for meals. Guaranteeing school meals puts nearly $1,000 per student back into parents’ pockets and ensures kids are receiving the nutrition they need and deserve.
  
  

• Fund our schools: In the state senate, Aaron Ford fought to fund our schools, and as Attorney General he has fought the Trump Administration’s attempts to cut their funding. Ford supports increasing Nevada’s education funding to ensure that Nevada’s per pupil education funding meets or exceeds the national average, and he will push for those dollars to reach the classroom, where they can have the biggest impact on our children.
  
  

• Expand career and technical education: Education should broaden the horizons of all of our children and prepare them for future success in whatever path they choose. Ford believes in supporting career and technical education, ensuring that Nevada students are motivated to show up every day and giving them the best possible opportunities to succeed.
  
  

• Improve Literacy Rates: Ford will support placing literacy coaches in every elementary school statewide to improve literacy education for early grades and make sure our kids don’t start off on the wrong foot.
  
  

• Expand Access to Early Childhood Education: Early childhood education is one of the best ways to improve literacy rates and expand a child’s horizon. As Governor, Ford will support expanding Nevada’s pre-K options to be accessible to more Nevada families. 

• Future Proof Nevada Education: Emerging technologies like AI and automation will be a part of every Nevadan’s future in some way. As Governor, Ford will prepare our schools and students for the economy of the future by promoting AI literacy, preparing students for careers in AI, cybersecurity, and new technologies. 

• Ensure Opportunity In Rural Nevada: Ford believes students in Nixon and Ely deserve the same opportunities as students from Reno and Las Vegas. As Governor he’ll make sure rural students are not left behind, especially with access to new technologies, vocational programs, and funding. 

• Train and retain professional educators: No teacher goes into education solely for the money, but our teachers deserve to be treated as the professionals they are. Students interested in becoming teachers shouldn’t be discouraged because they don’t view education as a viable path to a dignified and prosperous future. As Governor, Ford will invest in making salaries and benefits for Nevada educators competitive with salaries paid in similar states, allowing Nevada to keep our best teachers in our classrooms. Ford will streamline teaching license reciprocity with other states, making it easier for teachers seeking to come to Nevada to get into the classroom.
  
  

• Fairly Pay Support Professionals: Nevada’s schools run on the labor of thousands of hardworking bus drivers, librarians, custodians, and other support professionals. Ford will ensure  our education system recognizes their contributions to our children’s future by fairly compensating school support professionals that make our education system run.
  
  

• Stand up for Nevada: As Attorney General, Aaron Ford stood up to the Trump administration’s attempts to eliminate the Department of Education and rip away billions of dollars from Nevada schools. He also sued the federal government to protect Project Upward Bound and TRIO programs. These programs aid low-income, first-generation, and disabled students in accessing and completing higher education. As Governor, Ford will always stand up for federal education funding and put Nevada’s children first, no matter which party occupies the White House. 

Section 2: Promote Child Welfare

Students face rampant distractions with the use of addictive social media. Our students are also falling through the cracks because teachers don’t have the resources to adequately educate students and give them the 1:1 attention that they need.  The first step in improving our education system is ensuring every Nevada student is healthy and safe. 

In 2025 Nevada ranked 47th in child wellbeing. With rising costs and a slowing economy, Nevada families feel the impacts of the Lombardo-Trump economy’s rising prices and slowing economy. As a state senator, Ford fought to give parents more choice in their children’s education and will continue to do so as Nevada’s Governor. 

• Protecting our children’s safety online: As Attorney General, Ford has sued several social media companies in an effort to protect Nevada’s children, including winning a first-of-its-kind settlement with Roblox that will protect children from online predators. As Governor, Ford will support policies that restrict the addictive nature of social media on our kids and protect them from child predators. He will support commonsense policies that give parents more control, require stronger safety standards for platforms used by minors, crack down on companies that design products to be addictive for children, prohibit the sale of student data, and increase transparency about how content is targeted to young users. He will also strengthen law enforcement tools to combat child exploitation online, expand digital literacy education in schools, and partner with educators and mental health professionals to help students build healthy relationships with technology.
  
  

• Reduce class sizes: Kids can’t succeed when teachers are forced to divide their attention among far too many students. Ford supports increasing teacher recruitment and retention, particularly at the elementary grades, as well as ensuring Nevada schools have adequate infrastructure for smaller class sizes. To reduce class sizes, Ford will improve working conditions, work to retain the staff we already have, and build an educator pipeline.
  
  

• Mental health in our schools: Kids deserve to feel safe and supported in schools. As Governor, Aaron Ford will prioritize and expand mental health access by adding additional school counselors to schools statewide. 

• School Cleanliness and Safety: Nevada’s children deserve to learn in schools that are well maintained, safe, and clean. Aaron Ford supports ensuring schools have enough custodial and maintenance personnel and that their work is fairly compensated. 

Section 3: Higher Education And Apprenticeships

Nevada’s colleges, universities, and training centers are critical to our future economic growth as well as the development of future generations of educators. Even though Nevada is at the bottom of the rankings for the number of adults with post-secondary degrees, students will still face 12% tuition hikes to make up for inadequate state funding and federal funding cuts. AG Ford will work to broaden the range of educational opportunities available to Nevadans, including by investing in union Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) that build up Nevada’s workforce and give students the opportunity to earn while they learn a skilled trade. Ford will also support efforts to bring down the cost of tuition and encourage NHSE to refrain from approving increases during his term as governor. 

• Invest in post-secondary education: Nevada’s state funding for post-secondary institutions never recovered from the 2008 recession. Ford will support increasing funding for Nevada’s colleges and universities to bring funding levels back into line with Nevada’s peer states.
  
  

• Support apprenticeships and job training: Union apprenticeship programs are some of the best educational programs available to Nevadans—providing specialized and in-demand job training and integrating classroom instruction with hands-on experience. As Governor, Ford will partner with labor unions to create more registered apprenticeship programs and promote project labor agreements that give apprentices a foot in the door. Ford will also encourage new projects to give priority to hiring Registered Apprentices, so that Nevada’s workforce of tomorrow has the opportunity to learn the skills they need today.
  
  

• Student loan affordability: As a State Senator Ford introduced legislation to allow Nevada student loan borrowers to refinance their student loans at a more affordable rate, and as Attorney General, he held predatory loan servicers accountable, delivering millions of dollars in student loan relief to Nevadans harmed by their deceptive practices. As Governor, Ford will support efforts to cut costs for student loan borrowers like refinancing options and will limit tuition increases at Nevada’s colleges and universities.
  
  

• Support the right of graduate students to collectively bargain: As a former Graduate Assistant (GA), Ford knows exactly how hard GAs work and how it feels when that hard work isn’t enough to pay the bills at the end of the month. As Governor, Ford will strongly support graduate student workers’ right to organize and collectively bargain. 
  
  

• Ban predatory lending practices: Ford will work with the legislature to stop predatory lending practices that lure students into debt and ban practices that lock students into never-ending debt. 
  
  

Section 4: Engagement and Accountability

• Attendance: Student attendance is a major struggle in Nevada schools. As Governor, Ford will work with local school boards to ensure that school districts have funding for athletics, performing arts, career connected learning, hands-on classes, and clubs and activities. We see schools packed out for games, performances, and competitions, and that’s when family members show up and participate in the educational process. Now more than ever it is important to excite students about school and give them reasons to show up. 
  
  

• Student Accountability: As Governor, Ford will set consistent expectations around student behavior across schools. He will work with school districts to support educators dealing with disruptions, reduce non-instructional workload that pulls teachers away from planning and instruction, and give educators more flexibility in how they meet individual students’ needs.
  
  

• Educational Time: As Governor, Ford will partner with local school districts to streamline assessments, reduce redundancy in the classroom, and protect time for teaching and learning.
  
  

• Parents Council: As Governor, Ford will appoint a council of parents from across the state to inform the decision making for K-12 education.