Nevada

Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program

  • Tax-Credit Scholarship
  • Enacted 2015
  • Launched 2015

Nevada’s Educational Choice Scholarship allows corporations to claim a 100 percent tax credit for contributions to approved scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), nonprofits that provide private school scholarships, counted against the Modified Business Tax. Taxpayers may carry forward a tax credit under this program for five years. The total amount of tax credits awarded statewide is $14.2 million in 2021–22. The SGOs then provide private school scholarships to families who meet the income requirements. Learn more about the program’s funding, eligibility and regulations on this page.

We do not administer this program.

Eligibility Test Apply State Groups

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  • 50%

    of Families with Children Income-eligible Statewide

  • 1,497

    Students Participating (2021–22)

  • 69

    Participating Schools (2021–22)

  • 5

    Scholarship-granting Organizations (2021–22)

  • $6,207

    Average Scholarship Award (2021-22)

  • 63%

    Average Value as a Percentage of Public School Per-student Spending

Nevada’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program Participation

Students Participating
School Year Ending
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Student Funding

Scholarship amounts are determined by SGOs. The maximum scholarship is worth $8,726 in 2022–23, a limit that increases by the Consumer Price Index increase each year.

(Last updated February 15, 2023)

Student Eligibility

All students that receive scholarships under this program must come from families whose household incomes are at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line ($90,000 for a family of four in 2023–24).

(Last updated June 28, 2023)

EdChoice Expert Feedback

Nevada’s tax-credit scholarship program helps thousands of students access schools that are the right fit for them, but policymakers could do more to expand educational opportunity.

Eligibility for the scholarships is limited to 300 percent of the federal poverty line. Half of Nevada students are eligible for a scholarship and less than 1 percent of students statewide actually use a scholarship.

The average scholarship size is about $6,200, which is about 63 percent of the average expenditure per student at Nevada’s district schools, though the cap on scholarship values is significantly higher (about $8,450) and automatically increases with the Consumer Price Index. Tax credits are worth 100 percent of the value of the contributions to scholarship organizations, but only $6.7 million in tax credits are available annually, which is equivalent to less than 0.2 percent of Nevada’s K–12 revenue.

In order to expand access to educational choice, Nevada policymakers should dramatically increase the available tax credits and expand eligibility to all students (prioritizing scholarships based on need). The program could also be converted into an education savings account to ensure that all students have access to the education that’s the right fit for them, whether private school or a customized course of education.

Nevada’s scholarship program avoids unnecessary and counterproductive regulations.

(Last updated February 15, 2023)

 

Rules and Regulations

  • Income Limit: 300 percent Poverty
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: None
  • Geographic Limit: Statewide
  • Enrollment Cap: None
  • Scholarship Cap: $8,726
  • Testing Mandates: Nationally norm-referenced tests
  • Credit Value: 100%
  • Per Donor Credit Cap: None
  • Total Tax Credit Cap: $6,655,000

SGO Requirements:

  • Must be a certified 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
  • May not own or operate any private school in the state
  • May not spend more than 5 percent of its donations on the administration of the fund
  • May not limit gifts to a single school
  • May not limit gifts to specific pupils
  • Must keep records pursuant to the educational environment of the student

(Last updated February 15, 2023)

Governing Statutes

NRS 363A.139; NRS 388D.250 through 280

(Last updated February 15, 2023)