“As pre-K students roll over, they become role models for academic success in those classrooms,” he said. “Francone was picked by management and the board because it was our lowest-performing school, and right now it is outperforming Holbrook.”

Because about half of the district is living in economic distress, Jackson said quality pre-K could give children a better chance of future success.

Early literacy is a major focus of pre-K in CFISD, and the district’s programs teach oral language and vocabulary. Children work on speaking, read-alouds and socialization, Macias said.

“The kids who qualify for pre-K are typically economically disadvantaged kids and kids who have challenges—there may be [performance] gaps,” she said. “Having them all day is certainly an educational benefit.”

Need for funding

Cost and space are the primary factors holding the district back from expanding full-day pre-K to other campuses, Macias said.

Half-day programs only need one classroom for every two classes because students are split between morning and afternoon sessions. Full-day programs need more space for the same number of children.

Passed in 2015, House Bill 4 provided $118 million to improve pre-K programs for the 2015-17 biennium. Abbott said he would like to see the program doubled to $236 million for the 2017-19 biennium. However, a House budget proposal released Feb. 15 called for $73 million to be distributed to districts based on the number of students instead.

Macias said she is hopeful to see a funding increase. The $2.4 million CFISD received from HB 4 in 2015 did not provide enough funding to expand the full-day program to other campuses.

“Every year, we’re having to add teachers,” she said. “The demand is larger than what we have available. With our district still growing, we have schools that are busting at the seams.”