School & District Management

San Antonio Mayor Beats Drum for Support of Pre-K Push

By Julie Blair — April 23, 2013 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

In a city where 15 independent school districts share the task of educating about 315,000 of San Antonio’s students, Mayor Julian Castro still has a tough push ahead of him as he launches a citywide public preschool program.

So far, only seven of the city’s 15 school districts have agreed to partner in “Pre-K 4 SA,” the city-run preschool program that will help 22,400 mostly poor 4-year-olds when fully implemented in 2020 at a cumulative cost of $313.9 million.

Participation requires districts to give up both control and large amounts of money. In exchange, the Castro administration promises the districts will receive larger numbers of better-prepared kindergartners, more-informed and involved parents, teacher professional development, and a shot at competitive grants.

Cautious Support

While some participating districts are enthusiastic, others say they’re not quite sure what they’re in for. A third camp is worried about not getting a fair shake, but felt compelled to join when voters pushed through a tax hike last November to pay for Pre-K 4 SA.

See Also

For a related story, see “San Antonio Sets Sights on Preschool Leadership,” (April 23, 2013).

“By no means was this clear-cut for us,” said Aubrey Chancellor, the senior director of community relations for the 68,000-student North East school district, whose board agreed on a 6-1 vote in late February to join the partnership. “We don’t have waiting lists. We felt we were educating our kiddos and doing a good job.”

She said her district currently has 1,350 children enrolled in half-day, state-funded preschool, but expects that number to grow when 80 students move to the full-day Pre-K 4 SA program. And because in Texas, education money follows the child, $3,200 will be transferred from her district’s pot to that of Pre-K 4 SA when those students move. That means the money will no longer be available to pay for busing or administrative costs.

In the end, the school board’s consensus was that the voters had agreed to the plan, she said.

“We didn’t have the right to take the choice away from them,” Ms. Chancellor said.

The mayor’s team is quick to point out that the districts will receive many benefits through the partnership, the largest of which is a well-prepared K-12 population that will make up the workforce of tomorrow.

“There is a real consensus in our community that we absolutely have to get our arms around this educational challenge,” said Jeanne Russell, Mr. Castro’s education advisor. She added that more of San Antonio’s high school graduates should be enrolling in college than are doing so now.

Districts and taxpayers will “touch, feel, and reap the rewards,” she argued.

District Benefits

For starters, the city’s districts will have an opportunity to apply for competitive grants totaling $5.4 million—15 percent of funding collected under the new tax, starting in 2016. That money will serve 1,700 children, in part by extending current preschool services offered by winning districts.

Staff members in all partnering school districts will also be entitled to intensive professional development provided by master teachers both at the Pre-K 4 SA school sites and in their own home schools. That help will also be extended to charter and private preschool providers that send children to San Antonio’s K-12 schools.

In addition, monthly workshops with master teachers will also be offered for “informal” child-care providers—the abuelitas, or grandmothers, and other baby-sitters of the community—to focus on strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy. It is believed that the informal sector cares for many prospective Pre-K 4 SA pupils, Ms. Russell said, as their parents are ineligible for state or federal programs.

All the new services will greatly improve the knowledge of entering kindergarten classes throughout San Antonio, Ms. Russell said, and make it easier for districts to hit their grade-level markers.

Still, some remain skeptical.

One superintendent who asked not to be named said that while preschool is important, Pre-K 4 SA will drain local coffers and the perks won’t measure up: For example, professional development won’t likely be tailored to a specific district’s needs or be provided on a timeline that truly helps. It would be cheaper, that administrator argued, to simply pay for a consultant to come in and provide tailored help.

“If anybody knows education, it’s us, so why can’t they just give us the money?” the administrator said. “It’ll have the same effect, and we’ll maintain control.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the April 24, 2013 edition of Education Week as Corralling Local Support Still a Challenge

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Social-Emotional Learning 2025: Examining Priorities and Practices
Join this free virtual event to learn about SEL strategies, skills, and to hear from experts on the use and expansion of SEL programs.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Inside PLCs: Proven Strategies from K-12 Leaders
Join an expert panel to explore strategies for building collaborative PLCs, overcoming common challenges, and using data effectively.
Content provided by Otus

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management This City Can Claim a NAEP Distinction No Other City Can. Here's What Happened
While American students saw another decline in 4th grade reading scores on the Nation's Report Card, this city was an exception.
6 min read
Diverse elementary students reading in the classroom
iStock/Getty Images
School & District Management Do Students Suffer When a Superintendent Leaves? A New Study Has an Answer
A new study is the first in a while to explore how students fare academically when there's turnover in the district's top office.
5 min read
A man places his hand on top of his head as he looks up at an upwardly pointing arrow turning downward as it turns a corner.
iStock/Getty Images
School & District Management What Latino Superintendents Say It Will Take to Grow Their Ranks
Three Latino superintendents talked about the direct and indirect paths to building a pipeline of future district leaders of color.
4 min read
Vector image of many professionals, diversity, highlighting hispanic.
Liz Yap/Education Week and iStock/Getty
School & District Management Opinion Your School Needs a Teacher-Mentorship Program
We all know how critical the first few years of teaching are. Here's how to set teachers up for success.
Pamela Slifer
4 min read
Mentorship development of young teachers. School leaders make the teaching profession more sustainable by developing a robust mentoring program in their school.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva