This article provides a profile of the 550 school districts that applied for the High Quality Prekindergarten grant program that was enacted by the 84th Legislative Session, 2015. There were also 47 open-enrollment charter schools that applied for the grant. The High Quality Prekindergarten grant program will allow districts and charters to receive funding for qualifying prekindergarten students in addition to the half-day Foundation School Program (FSP) funding that is already received for each eligible prekindergarten student. The map and the charts below provide insights about the geographic location and percent of school districts that applied according to:
- Social economic status of the student population,
- Student enrollment size, and
- Regional Education Service Center.
The map below shows the location of school districts that applied in school year 2015-16 for the High Quality Prekindergarten grants. School districts that applied were primarily located in or near urban and suburban population centers, and also tended to be located in the Eastern half of the state of Texas. School districts that did not apply tended to be school districts with relative small numbers of enrolled students and also tended to be located in the Western half of the state.
According to the chart below, the percentage of school districts that applied for the High Quality Prekindergarten grant is correlated with the percent of students from low income families. Over 60 percent of school districts applied where 70 percent or more of the districts’ students were from low income families in school year 2015-16.
According to the chart below, the percentage of school districts that applied for the High Quality Prekindergarten grant is correlated with the enrollment size of school districts. Over 80 percent of the school districts applied for the grant where the districts’ student enrollments were over 10,000 students in school year 2015-16.
According to the chart below, the percentage of school districts that applied for the High Quality Prekindergarten grant is correlated to the location of their regional education service center. As shown in the map above lowest application rates in the Western half of the State of Texas are found in Regions 9 in Wichita Falls, 14 in Abilene, 15 in San Angelo and 16 in Amarillo. The lowest application rates in the Eastern half of the State of Texas are found in Regions 3 in Victoria and 5 in Beaumont.
For more information about the High Quality Prekindergarten grant program and access a list of school districts and open-enrollment charter schools that applied for the grant, click on the link below.
http://tea.texas.gov/Curriculum_and_Instructional_Programs/Special_Student_Populations/Early_Childhood_Education/House_Bill_4_High-Quality_Prekindergarten_Grant_Program/