Last November, San Antonio took a Texas-sized step forward in early education. City residents approved a 1/8^th cent sales tax to pay for Mayor Julián Castro’s ambitious new plan to offer high-quality, full-day preschool to four-year-olds.

Recommended by a blue ribbon panel, Pre-K 4 SA (prekindergarten for San Antonio) will work with school districts to serve 22,400 children over eight years, improving and expanding the state’s preschool programs. The sales tax increase is estimated to cost less than $8 per year for median income San Antonio households.

“We expect interest to skyrocket as parents learn more about how this high-quality program can help put their children on a path to academic success,” Castro said in a statement.

Castro plans to deliver “gold-standard academics” and “intensive professional development for staff members and extensive parental supports,” Education Week says in an article about the program.

Tuition will be free for disadvantaged four-year-olds, including children from low-income families, children who cannot speak or understand English, homeless children, children whose parents serve in the military and children in foster care.

Ten percent of the seats will be offered to children who don’t meet these criteria.  Their parents would pay tuition amounts based on their incomes.

San Antonio is moving quickly. In April, the city asked the public to comment on potential preschool curriculum. Pre-enrollment fairs occurred this month. The city has received 450 applications for the 44 teaching spots it plans to fill, including candidates from Alaska, California, Florida and Virginia. There will be a lottery in June, final enrollment in July and 700 children in classrooms by August.

Pre-K 4 SA has critics who say the program is duplicative and expensive.

Population numbers, however, tell a different story of unmet needs. While the city offers pre-k, some districts only have half-day programs. In other cases, parents earn too much to qualify for free pre-k, but they still can’t afford to pay for high-quality programs.

Officials estimate that 5,700 of the city’s four-year-olds are eligible for state funded pre-k but are not enrolled in a full day pre-k program. “Of that total, an estimated 2,300 eligible four-year-old children currently are not enrolled in any pre-k program while 3,400 are enrolled in half-day programs in the City of San Antonio.”

As Rebecca Flores, San Antonio’s education policy administrator, explained in a recent interview, school officials are saying, “‘We need help serving more of our children.’”

San Antonio can also prove that preschool is a sound financial investment by making substantial improvements in the quality of its settings, teachers, curriculum and outcomes.

Indeed, because organizers are setting up the program so quickly, they will have to work hard to provide the superior quality that Castro envisions. The program’s stated goal is to use the preschool year to reduce children’s achievement gaps by 25 percent in language, 33 percent in math and 90 percent in literacy — compared to peers who do not enroll in the program.  Additional plans include closing the third grade achievement gaps in math and reading by at least 10 percent, and to reduce special education and grade retention by 20 to 40 percent.

The success of Pre-K 4 SA will be measured annually. In 2020, city voters will have their say, getting a chance to vote on whether or not to reauthorize the program.

We applaud San Antonio’s mayor and its voters for their investment in pre-k. This is a model for financing early learning programs that other municipalities may want to consider.