DEPARTMENT: Pre-K 4 SA
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Sarah Baray, Ph.D.
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Pre-K 4 SA Program Overview
SUMMARY:
Pre-K 4 SA will present an overview of the early learning and workforce development program.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In November 2012, the San Antonio voters approved 1/8th of a cent sales tax to fund the Pre-K 4 SA Initiative for an initial eight-year period. The program increases the quality of early learning in San Antonio using a four-pronged approach: education centers, professional learning, family engagement, and competitive grants. Each year, 2,000 children are served directly at the four education centers and an additional 62,000 children are supported through professional learning and competitive grants.
Pre-K 4 SA is governed by an eleven-member Board of Directors appointed by City Council. Board Members serve two-year staggered terms. The program is self-supported with a 1/8 cent sales tax approved by voters in 2012. The program does not receive any revenue from the City’s General Fund. The program’s business model is to partner with independent school districts to leverage state funding for pre-k. Under terms of the MOU between Pre-K 4 SA and partner school districts, eligible children who are enrolled at a Pre-K 4 SA Education Center are dually enrolled in their school district. In exchange for providing full-day prekindergarten services, Pre-K 4 SA receives the majority of the half-day state funding from the districts. Current partner schools include East Central ISD, Edgewood ISD, Harlandale ISD, Northside ISD, North East ISD, San Antonio ISD, Southside ISD, Southwest ISD, and New Frontiers Public Schools.
HB3, which passed in the 2019 legislative session, provides additional funding to incentivize school districts to offer full-day pre-k to eligible children. HB3 does not expand the number of children eligible for public pre-k and does not require districts to meet quality standards identified by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Even after the passage of HB3, 40% of San Antonio’s 25,000 four-year-olds are not eligible for public pre-k. Of those families who are not eligible, between 3,000 and 5,000 of those families are unable to afford high quality pre-k in the private sector. Pre-K 4 SA helps to fill the access and quality gap by creating additional high-quality seats and providing grants and professional learning to address quality standards in public, private, and parochial schools and child development centers across San Antonio’s early learning landscape.
Independent evaluations demonstrate that San Antonio’s investment in quality early learning has had a positive effect even beyond children enrolled in the four Education Centers. Pre-K 4 SA closes the gap in kinder readiness and has lasting effects including better attendance, decreased need for special education services, and better 3rd grade math and reading scores.
The presentation for this item will include a brief history of Pre-K 4 SA as well as a briefing on the complex, changing early learning landscape, and timeline for the upcoming year.
ISSUE:
This item provides a briefing of the Pre-K 4 SA program.
ALTERNATIVES:
This is a briefing for informational purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this briefing.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is a briefing for informational purposes only.