We know that providing children with the right start will lead to less intervention and remediation in later grades – ultimately resulting to increased rates of graduation and success in adulthood. In Nevada, over 57% of children ages 0-5 live in families where all available parents are in the workforce. The average annual cost of child care in a licensed center in Nevada ranges from $8,987 for an infant to $7,340 for preschoolers (age 3-5). The average individual income is $38,334. Only 39 of the 448 licensed child care centers in Nevada are accredited programs. To ensure that children have access to high quality, affordable child care, the Children’s Advocacy Alliance will work toward:

• The adoption of a state definition of “School Readiness” and a common kindergarten entry assessment.

• Enhanced qualifications and training requirements for early childhood professionals.

• Supporting and enhancing the development of the Silver Stars Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) and integration of participation with child care subsidy reimbursement to provide a quality accountability structure for the use of state dollars.

• Promoting business involvement in early learning through tax incentive programs that reward businesses which offer child care stipends for employees, site based care, promotion and use of FSA programs, and others.

• Implementation of a coordinated early childhood data system that is linked to the K-12 data system.

• Increasing child care subsidy eligibility to ensure that more working families can afford care and increasing the state child care development fund contribution, including the use of current market rates to determine subsidy reimbursements.