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7.01.2024

Early Childhood Funding in Nevada: Five Key Findings from Nevada’s Early Childhood Fiscal Map

Funding plays a major role in ensuring that young children and families have access to the programs and services that they need. 

The primary sources of funding for these programs are through federal and state budget allocations, as well as some grants and private sector contributions. 

In 2023, The Children’s Cabinet contracted with a national partner, the Children’s Funding Project, to develop an Early Childhood Fiscal Map for Nevada focused on state and federal investments for children ages 0-8 and their families. This interactive tool, which includes state and federal funding for fiscal years 2019, 2020, and 2021 was completed in May 2024. 

The tool includes over 130 different state and federal funding sources, broken out by service types including Early Education and Care; Health, Mental Health, and Nutrition; Economic Well-Being; and Family Supports.

Five Key Findings:

1. $2 billion in Fiscal Year 2021: The tool shows that just over $2 billion was invested in early childhood programs and services in Fiscal Year 2021, which ran from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. This is nearly double the amounts invested in 2019 ($1.1 billion) and 2020 ($1.3 billioin), due in large part to additional federal relief funding made available to states to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. $1.2 billion for Early Education and Care: In Fiscal Year 2021, over 60%t of all early childhood funding went toward early education and care programs, with the largest share going to public education classrooms serving children ages 5 to 8 (just over $284 million).
   
   Three funding streams provided investments specifically for preschool (Preschool Development Grant; Office of Early Learning and Development, Nevada Ready! PreK; and Special Education Preschool), totaling just over $71 million (10.7% of Early Education and Care funding).
   
   Just over 42% ($526 million) of investments in the Early Education and Care category went to child care programs, including the Child Care and Development Program (child care subsidy) and Head Start programs.
3. Over 65% of Funding is Federal: Although previous years show an almost even split between state and federal investments in early childhood programs and services, in Fiscal Year 2021, the federal investment jumped to 65% (not including federal supplemental relief funds for COVID-19), with the state general fund investment representing just under 35%.
4. Majority of Funding for 5-8 Year Olds: When looking at the ages of children served by all funding sources, the majority of funding streams served children in the oldest age group for this study, children ages 5 to 8 years old (112 in fiscal year 2021). The included population with the least number of funding streams were the prenatal population (3), followed by birth to 2 years (68) and 3 to 4 year olds (68).
5. 5% of State Revenue Spending on Early Childhood Population: Although children ages 0 to 8 years old make up about 10% of the state population, just 5% of state generated funds were allocated to this population in each of the three fiscal years included in this fiscal map. The state spending per child (ages 0-8) for fiscal year 2021 was $2,050.

Fiscal Year 2021 Early Childhood Funding in Nevada

The four categories used to complete the funding analysis were based on the Early Childhood System definition adopted by the Nevada Early Childhood Advisory Council and the Nevada Early Childhood Leadership Council. Some adjustments were made for funding streams that cross over multiple categories. Visit the “Early Childhood System” page on the First 5 Nevada website to learn more.

1. Early Care and Education: Quality preschools, child care, and early education programs to support cognitive and social development. This includes programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start, Child Care Subsidy, and Nevada Ready! PreK, among others.
2. Health, Mental Health and Nutrition Services: Access to health and mental health screenings, regular medical check-ups, early intervention services, immunizations, and related health services to ensure both pregnant persons and children are healthy and growing well. This also includes programs to ensure pregnant persons and young children have access to proper nutrition. This includes programs such as Medicaid and Nevada Check Up, SNAP/WIC, NV Immunization Program, Nevada Early Intervention Services and more.
3. Family Supports: Programs to assist parents and caregivers in providing a nurturing and supportive environment for their children. This includes parenting education programs, home-visiting programs, family resource centers, child welfare,child abuse prevention programs and others.
4. Economic Well-Being: Programs to provide financial support to families, as well as programs that focus on long-term economic stability. This includes programs such as credit counseling, job placement and training services, TANF, and housing and utility assistance, among other programs.

For more detailed data and visual insights into Nevada's early childhood funding, you can explore the interactive tool on the Nevada Early Childhood Advisory Council’s website at https://nvecac.com/ or by clicking here.