Educators press for full-day kindergarten

Full-day kindergarten is the top legislative priority for Nevada educators this year, the Assembly Education Committee has been told.

Clark County schools chief Carlos Garcia and Washoe County schools chief Paul Dugan told the panel that full-day kindergarten was singled out because it's the best way to prepare children for the public school system.

This is the second legislative session that the Nevada Association of School Boards and the Nevada Association of School Superintendents have pushed their iNVest program, a compilation of $646 million in new funding for K-12 schools. It's the first time that the groups outlined their priorities.

The kindergarten plan would cost $72 million over the next two years. Other priorities include about $47 million designed to help schools make their adequate yearly progress, $60 million to help English language learners and $31 million to help schools deal with inflation on fuel and energy costs.

The educators also hope to push salary increases for licensed personnel. They say teachers have received about 6 percent in cost-of -living adjustments for six years.