Senate Leader Nicole Cannizzaro Tees Up Universal Pre-K Legislation

State Senate Leader Nicole Cannizaro (D-Las Vegas), who is rumored to be running for Attorney General in 2026, has sponsored a “major education policy bill” for the 2025 legislative session that includes universal pre-K for every four year old child in Nevada. The bill is named the EDUCATE ACT (Education through Accountability, Transparency and Efficiency Act).

Our mission at #nvleg is to improve outcomes for students, hire and retain great teachers and staff, and give parents more confidence in our educational system. That's why I'm sponsoring the EDUCATE Act this upcoming session.

Read more about it here: https://t.co/VMT2jzpBQC pic.twitter.com/QqKvPOTszq

— Nicole Cannizzaro (@Nicole4Nevada) December 18, 2024

The EDUCATE ACT also includes the continuation of an approximate 20 percent raise provided in the last biennium budget for teachers and support staff, including school resource officers.

“The EDUCATE Act is the result of a commitment I made a year ago to bring forward a package of education reforms that would improve outcomes for students, help us hire and retain great teachers and staff, and give parents more confidence in our educational system,” Leader Cannizzaro said in a statement.

Channel 3 reports on the additional accountability, transparency and efficiency measures included in the legislation:

For student outcomes, the State Board of Education would have to create achievement plans for elementary schools. Schools would have to reduce the number of teachers’ non-instructional time to 2% or less of the total student attendance, and classroom-based positions would have to be filled before staffing non-classroom positions in elementary schools.

There would be a new School District Oversight Board, a committee made of the legislative and executive branches to oversee school districts and take action if they fail to meet their legal obligations.

The bill would also grant voting rights to the appointed members of the Clark County School District Board of Trustees.

Charter schools would have to undergo more rigorous financial and performance reviews, and local education authorities would have a greater voice on approving charter applications. All teachers at charter schools would have to get a license or endorsement from the Nevada Department of Education within five years.

For Opportunity Scholarships, private schools that receive public funds would be subject to the same subject assessment requirements as public schools. They would also have to collect and report demographic and enrollment information on scholarship recipients.

The EDUCATE Act has support from Beth Smith, president of the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees; Elaine Wynn; former president of the Nevada State Board of Education; Marie Neisess, president of the Clark County Education Association; and Amanda Morgan, executive director of the policy organization Educate Nevada Now.

Cannizzaro says the bill will help lead to more conversations about accountability across all parts of the education system during next year’s legislative session.

Education will continue to be the hot topic during the next session as conversations regarding education were the centerpiece of the last 2023 session, particularly over the partisan-fight for school choice and the Governor’s calls for literacy, fiscal accountability and transparency.

In one of his first Executive Orders last year, Governor Lombardo mandated an audit of Nevada’s 17 Public School Districts and the State Public Charter School Authority.

The Executive Order cites, “Nevada taxpayers invest over $5 billion annually in the operations of the State’s public schools; and, K-12 education accounted for $3.2 billion in general fund appropriations approved by the Nevada State Legislature for the 2021-23 biennium, more than any other function of state government.”

Last legislative session, Governor Lombardo  signed a historic $12 billion education budget, allocating $4 billion to CCSD, the largest school district. In September the district announced it was facing a potential budget deficit due to spending $53 million on litigation and $15 million in cybersecurity costs.

Last month, after reporting an estimated $10 million budget deficit, CCSD was appointed a Compliance Monitor by Governor Joe Lombardo and  the State of Nevada Department of Education following the district’s non-compliance with state law, NRS 387 and 388G. The appointed Compliance Monitor is Yolanda King, a former 33-year employee and County Manger of Clark County and the current President of the Nevada Taxpayers Association.

The funding associated for universal pre-K programs is split between federal, state and local governments. “The bulk of federal money flows directly to localities through the Head Start program, and states commonly use three funding mechanisms: general fund appropriations for programs, block grants and the state funding formula,” according to states that have implemented universal or partial pre-K programs. State funding for pre-K programs generally increases each year requiring the state or municipality to raise property or sales taxes, especially during a time of economic downturn.