Even with the recent Texas population boom, the state does not proportionately fund for its

Pre-K students. Particularly, Central Texas experienced about an $ million decrease in its fundin!, accordin! to a presentation earlier this year over "inder!arden readiness !iven by #aura Koeni! and $my %iseman. Texas, alon! with California, is behind in percenta!e of children served at the Pre-K level. #aura Koeni!, director of &chool 'eadiness for E( $lliance, said the federal !overnment does not allocate funds for education !rowth and the temporary fundin! increase does not parallel with the population !rowth.

#in!uistics $ccordin! to the definition provided by the Texas Education $!ency, the term )at ris"* applies to past school performance. Koeni! said in re!ards to Pre-K education, the term )vulnerable children* replaces )at ris"* since there is no past school performance to be analy+ed. &andra Es,uibel, the director of -evelopment and .ar"etin! for .i Escuelita Preschool, said a vulnerable child is statistically more li"ely than others to fail academically and has nothin! to do with race while &usan #andry from the Children/s #earnin! 0nstitute in 1ouston disa!reed and said that race plays a hu!e role.

Timeline 0n 2334 and 2353 public expansion !rants were set to mandate Pre-K !uidelines which were nonexistent in 233 . %ith the new !uidelines set in place, more children enrolled in Pre-K. 1alf days expanded into full days, which statistically showed an improved ,uality of education, said Koeni!. 0n 2355 Texas #e!islative bud!et cuts decreased Pre-K !rants. -istricts lost their

fundin! because they relied on the !rants. Conse,uentially, fundin! focused more on a!es throu!h 52. Pre-K teachers often needed more trainin! to efficiently teach 6-year-olds with varyin! needs. 7inally in 2352, the Texas Education $!ency administered billions of dollars in both state and federal funds that supported a variety of pro!rams to benefit public education. 7unds came from state and federal coffers and !rant or!ani+ations. -istricts hired Pre-K coordinators to help understand policies in place before bud!et cuts. These coordinators increased Pre-K recruitment and helped parents navi!ate heavy paperwor". Koeni! said as state cuts were made, coordinators had to ta"e on more 8ob positions to ma"e sure all areas met standards. The expansion !rant allowed school districts add services to Pre-K said #andry. 1alf days were expanded to full days and schools had the option to add a second teacher in a classroom or add a teacher/s aide. #andry said that these options were based off of hi!h need in schools. %ith the bud!e cuts, the districts faced tou!h, yet not disastrous, decisions #andry said. There was no !uarantee of a second teacher or aide and the threat of full days bein! set bac" to half days was introduced.

Private &ector The impact of the state public preschool bud!et does not impact the private sector directly Es,uibel said. 1owever, when the federal !overnment bud!et is altered, the private sector sees impact in its classrooms. 7or example, recently .i Escuelita was affected when all federal !overnment !rants had an automatic 9 percent reduction in fundin!. 0n turn, the school lost 9 percent of their 1ead &tart

fundin! and in turn had to turn away 9 percent of their students, Es,uibel said. ).any of these students, if not all, will stay home until they are able to enter the K-52 system. :ur families are considered wor"in! poor and cannot afford to pay out of poc"et costs for preschool,* Es,uibel said. .i Escuelita Preschool sees the demand for both En!lish lan!ua!e intervention and early childhood education at its -allas locations. The population boom drives much of this from 1ispanics, who account for most of the !rowth Es,uibel said. Ten states and (9 lar!e metro areas now have minority white child populations. Child populations in the $tlanta, -allas, :rlando, and Phoenix metro areas flipped to )ma8ority minority* in 2353, said Es,uibel. 0n the ;nited &tates 25 percent of children under a!e of five are 1ispanic and that is expected to increase by 56< percent by 2393. -espite the fact that =< percent of 6-year-olds are eli!ible, only 6< percent are enrolled in preschool Es,uibel said. 7amilies cite lac" of affordable pro!rams in !eneral. &ome are discoura!ed due to lan!ua!e barriers or most do not have access to ,uality early education pro!rams in their nei!hborhood.

Possible &olutions )The #e!islature/s Pre-K expansion !rant was a special initiative and always holds the ris" of disappearin!,* #andry said. 0nstead of havin! the #e!islative threat every two years #andry su!!ests loo"in! for an untouchable formula to suppress fundin! issues and decisions.