The sales tax funded group Pre-K 4 SA has distributed $4.2 million in grants to 15 school districts, in an effort to enhance early childhood education across the city, and open Pre-K programs to a wider group of children, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports
.Sarah Baray, the CEO of Pre-K for SA, says its part of the group's mandate not just to teach students itself, but to encourate early childhood education across the city.
"It really makes the impact of Pre-K for SA more far reaching than just the 2,000 students in our classrooms," she said.
Pre-K for SA opened in 2012 with funding from a one eighth cent increase in the sales tax which was approved by San Antonio voters.The two largest recipient of Pre-K grants are the city's two largest public school districts, the Northside and North East ISDs, each of which received grants of nearly $1 million.
But the Catholic schools, private schools, and daycare academies also received grants.
"To hire staff, to lower the pupil-teacher ratio to increase classroom quality, some of them are extending their hours, to make the programs more accessible to working families."
She says the grants will also broaden the base of local Pre-K programs. She says the mandate of Pre-K for SA is to mainly provide an early childhood education for childen from low income and English as a Second Language households.
Baray says making sure robust Pre-K programs are avaialble in the ISDs, that will open the programs to all families.
Researchers say that a child's brain is as much as 82% developed by the age of 3, and early childhood researchers and kindergarten teachers have long argued that the earlier a student receives education, especially education in language arts, the better the outcomes will be not just educationally, but also socially.
"San Antoio as brilliant when it said 'we're not just going to provide access, we're going to provide access to high quality.' So these grants provide access to high quality Pre-K across San Antonio."