Nevada awarded share of federal preschool grant

Nevada is one of 18 states splitting $226 million in federal grants to develop public preschool programs in 2014, according to an announcement by the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a press call Tuesday.

Half of the 36 states that applied were named grant recipients.

“This investment in young children is a game-changer for the next generation of Nevada’s students,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga said.

But Nevada will be given a relatively small piece of the pie. At $6.4 million, its Preschool Development Grant for the first year is about half the $12.6 million average.

The money is largely going to the 13 “expansion grant” states — Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia — that already have robust state-funded pre-kindergartens and will work to expand them.

Nevada and four other “development grant” winners — Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii and Montana — have little to no public pre-kindergarten systems, with each state reaching less than 10 percent of young children. Public pre-kindergartens reach only 1.5 percent of Nevada 4-year-olds, according to Anna Severens of the Nevada Department of Education.

Nevada, however, will have a leg up on some of the other development states, building pre-kindergarten programs from scratch, Severens said. Although its state-funded preschool program is small, Nevada has more than a decade of experience. State lawmakers created Nevada’s program in 2001 and have annually funded pre-kindergarten to the tune of about $3.3 million, reaching 1,400 children.

These grant dollars will increase Nevada’s preschool population by about 810 students, or 58 percent, in the next four years, reaching 15 percent of the state’s 4-year-olds living far under the federal poverty level, according to a statement released Tuesday by Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office. It will benefit five Nevada counties: Clark, Washoe, Lyon, Churchill and Nye.

“This award is a major step forward,” Sandoval said. “I remain committed to supporting efforts to expand these vital programs until all Nevada children have access to a quality education.”

For Nevada and its four development-grant counterparts, much more of the initial grant can be spent on building the framework to provide pre-kindergarten. These states will be allowed to spend up to 35 percent of their grants on state-level foundations for pre-kindergarten, seven times what would be allowed for that cost in the 13 other states.

Exactly where the money will go in Nevada remains to be seen. The U.S. Department of Education wouldn’t release Nevada’s grant application on Tuesday.

However, more money will come as the grant program continues for three more years and the Obama administration seeks to redefine the K–12 public school system as one responsible for pre-K–12. The U.S. Department of Education wouldn’t reveal states’ expected grant amounts for the three following years either Tuesday, but the state said its total allotment could exceed $43 million.

Duncan described a plan of eventually having public schools offer pre-kindergarten to all 4-year-olds of low- and moderate-income families. Currently, one-third of the nation’s 4-year-olds are provided publicly funded preschool.

Contact Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @TrevonMilliard.