Reno is part of the Washoe County School District. The district is governed by a board of trustees that consists of seven nonpartisan members. The superintendent is appointed by the board.
Reno public school students consistently score above state and national averages on standardized tests, including the Iowa Test of Basic Skills/Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITBS/ITED) and, for high school students, the ACT and SAT college entrance exams. Five Reno public high schools have been named by Newsweek as among the best in the country. The district also was awarded SchoolMatch's "What Parents Want" honor in 2003.
The following is a summary of data regarding Reno public schools as of the 2003–2004 school year.
Total enrollment: 62,098
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 61
middle schools: 15
senior high schools: 14
other: 1
Student/teacher ratio: 1-2, 16:1; 3, 19:1; 4-6, 26:1; 7-8, 26.5:1; 9-12, 27:1
Teacher salaries
minimum: $27,907
maximum: $57,292
Funding per pupil: $6,025
Public Schools Information: Washoe County School District, 425 E. Ninth St., PO Box 30425, Reno, NV 89520-3425; telephone (775)348-0200
The University of Nevada, Reno, founded in 1864, enrolled more than 15,000 degree-seeking students in fall 2004 at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The university includes schools of medicine, journalism, and education; a college for training judges (National Judicial College); and the only program in Basque studies in the country (many Nevadans trace their ancestry to Basque sheepherders from Spain). The Truckee Meadows Community College offers two-year associate's degrees as well as adult education programs. A number of business, vocational, and professional schools are also located in the Reno area. Morrison University focuses on business degrees while the Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe takes advantage of its location by presenting many science and environmental programs.
The Washoe County Library System consists of 14 library branches strategically placed around the county with a new branch, Spanish Springs, that opened in early 2005. Six of the branches are "Partnership Libraries," which are housed in public school libraries but serve the entire public in their neighborhoods. One branch is a virtual branch on the Internet. The library has more than 943,000 items including books, videos, audios, and materials in microformat, CDROMs, database access, and several hundred periodical subscriptions. Special collections focus on gambling, Nevada history, and U.S. and Nevada documents.
The University of Nevada, Reno Libraries offer resources in paper and electronic formats, including over one million texts and journals available in-house, as well as electronic access to the full-text articles of over 8,000 journals. Films, audio and video tapes, maps, and government documents are also available. Special collections include Basque materials (50,000 volumes and 1,500 journals), Nevada and the Great Basin collection, rare books and prints, and a collection of contemporary arts books.
The Desert Research Institute (DRI), Nevada's primary research institution of the University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN), maintains facilities in Reno (the 470-acre Dandini Research Park) and oversees about 300 separate projects throughout the state, conducting studies in areas such as air quality and climactic changes in the western United States over the last two million years. The University of Nevada is a hotbed for research activities as represented by its surpassing $100 million in financial support received in the 2000–2001 academic year.
Public Library Information: Washoe County Library, 301S. Center St., Reno, NV 89501; telephone (775)327-8349; fax (775)327-8393; email internet@washoe.lib.nv.us