Lewisville ISD will apply for a three-year waiver for full-day prekindergarten following a unanimous vote Feb. 10 by the board of trustees to approve the submission of an application to do so.

State lawmakers passed House Bill 3 in the most recent legislative session, which, among other things, includes a requirement that school districts offer full-day pre-K to 4-year-old students who meet certain requirements, such as not being fluent in English or qualifying for the free or reduced-price lunch program.

If the Texas Education Agency approves Lewisville ISD’s waiver application, then the district will not have to offer full-day pre-K to qualified students until the 2022-23 school year.

Districts must meet certain requirements to be eligible for the waiver, and according to Lewisville ISD officials, the district meets all of these.

The waiver is being requested because in order to implement the program in time, according to officials, the district would have to construct, repurpose or lease a classroom facility, or issue bonds.


To fulfill the requirements to apply for the waiver, Lewisville ISD first solicited partnerships with public and private entities to enable the rollout of the full-day pre-K classes.

Three vendors came forward, but the district is not proposing to enter into a partnership with them at this time, according to district documents.

The district estimates that implementation of full-day pre-K would cost about $7 million, not including additional costs for special education staffing.

“A phased-in implementation of full-day prekindergarten allows for the district to determine the amount of students that would need to be served, as all data currently gathered are just estimates,” a district document stated.