Gov. Greg Abbott's signature pre-K program in danger of going unfunded
A multimillion-dollar prekindergarten grant program, a legislative priority of Gov. Greg Abbott two years ago, is in danger of going unfunded this session as House leaders so far are ignoring Abbott’s pleas to spend money on the initiative over the next two years.
School administrators, meanwhile, are split on whether the program should continue.
Established in 2015, the grant program has given 578 school districts an extra $734 per pre-K student — total of $130 million over 2016-17 . Those districts have committed to implementing high-quality standards in prekindergarten classrooms like family engagement, reporting more data to the state and requiring teachers have an additional credential. Keeping the grant program would mean about half of Texas’ school districts that meet the requirements of the grant could benefit from the money; ending it could mean that the money would be redistributed to every school district that has a prekindergarten program.
“The utilization of that fund has allowed us to go in depth with our pre-K program at a level we have never been able to do,” said Sharrah Pharr, director of federal programs and grants for the Hays school district, which will have received a total of $365,000 in pre-K grant money from the state.
Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/gov-greg-abbott-signature-pre-program-danger-going-unfunded/OtlN9KtUN5wBrgGAN3Z1WM/