Study: Nevada preschool funds fail to yield results
Officials from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) said that the $9,000 spent per child in Nevada is not helping the state catch up compared to the rest of the country. Despite spending more than other states, the Silver State ranks 41st in preschool access for four-year-old children, dropping one spot from 40th according to the 2024 State of Preschool report.
Allison Friedman-Krauss, an associate research professor at NIEER, believes Nevada should invest more money to provide and maintain quality programs. She said Nevada would need to increase spending by 50 percent, estimating it will cost nearly $15,000 per student to meet the preschool student benchmark.
The estimate comes despite Nevada coming in tenth in spending out of 45 states that have preschool programs.
'They are at the top of the states, but the state still has ways to go to be considered adequately funded,' Friedman-Krauss said.
The data indicate that state initiatives reached historic highs in the U.S. for the 2023-2024 school year, with states like New Mexico outpacing their neighboring states. Friedman-Krauss said the report places pressure on states to close gaps in preschool program accessibility.
'The goal of the report, which we've been doing now for over two decades, is to track annually states' investments in state-funded preschool programs,' she said.
The programs, which are funded and administered by each state, are designed to support four-year-old children, Friedman-Krauss said, adding that many children have gone underserved by them.
'The program enrolled 3,606 children in the 2023 to 2024 school year,' she said.
The report indicates that Nevada serves one percent of three-year-olds but nine percent of four-year-olds. Nationally, preschool remains a program mostly for four-year-olds.
'I just think they need to fund the program better,' Friedman-Krauss said of Nevada.
The report also indicates that Nevada has started serving a small number of three-year-olds in state-funded pre-K programs and has increased enrollment by more than 20 percent for the 2023-2024 school year. Friedman-Krauss said the cost benefits show a high return on funds invested in high-quality preschool programs.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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