This expansion comes amid demographers projecting FBISD’s enrollment will stabilize as the district reaches residential build-out and more families opt for alternative educational institutions such as charter schools. Population and Survey Analysts demographers predict kindergarten classes will become smaller as the population ages and fewer young families join the district.
How did we get here
Enrollment for FBISD’s 2025-26 Pre-K program opened March 1, according to a March 3 district news release.
The district offers prekindergarten programming for 3- and 4-year-olds who live in the district’s boundary and, and the children of FBISD employees who live out of the district, according to district documents.
Director of Strategic Communications Sherry Williams said district staff considered the following factors in selecting campuses for pre-K:
- Family feedback
- School building capacity
- Demographics projections
- School enrollment
What’s changing?
Since the 2018-19 school year, the district has doubled the amount of campuses offering pre-K 4, Williams said.
Three campuses with pre-K 4 programs will open for the first time in August after undergoing renovations under the 2023 bond, Community Impact reported. The campuses are:
- Aldridge Elementary School: formerly Blue Ridge-Briargate Elementary School
- Mission Elementary School: formerly Mission Bend-Mission Glen Elementary School
- Ferndell Henry Elementary School: formerly specialty campus Ferndell Henry Center for Learning
More than half of the 46 campuses offering the Pre-K 4 program provide free tuition for qualified families, while the others offer tuition-based models, according to the district website.
Per Texas Education Agency guidelines, the student must qualify for one of the following to receive tuition-free enrollment:
- Be identified as an English learner through state language assessment
- Household income must meet the federal income eligibility guidelines as low-income
- Be homeless or in foster care
- Be a dependent of an active service member or first responder who has been injured or killed
According to the district website, out of the 46 campuses that will offer the pre-K 4 program, the following number have specialized offerings:
- 10 bilingual campuses
- 21 tuition-based campuses for non-employees
- 26 campuses offering early childhood special education services
By the numbers
Staff projects 2,156 students will enroll in the district’s prekindergarten programs in the 2025-26 school year, following a trend of enrollment dropping the past two school years, Williams said.
As the district reaches residential built-out, more residents are opting for alternative educational institutions such as charter schools, PASA President Stacy Tepera said at the Feb. 3 annual demographic workshop.
Depending on fluctuations in mortgage rates, housing construction, new charter school plans, birth rates and the scale of school choice voucher legislation, the district could have a nearly 1,000 growth or almost 5,000 loss from its current enrollment by the 2034-35 school year, according to PASA estimates.
Another thing
Meanwhile, the district will also offer tuition-based pre-K enrollment to 10 additional campuses in the 2025-26 school year, providing at least 174 seats across 21 campuses, Williams said.
Based on the 2024-25 school year, district staff projects a revenue loss of $900,000 from tuition-based programs the 2025-26 school year, primarily because enrollment for tuition-based pre-K had not actualized as expected, Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said at the Feb. 24 board presentation.
The pre-K 4 expansion to additional campuses during the 2025-26 school year is cost neutral, Williams said.
Next steps
Future program expansion will be dependent on space availability, available budget and the outcome of the ongoing school boundary process, Williams said.
Pre-registration for pre-K enrollment opened on March 1, according to the district news release. Families can find their campus, complete registration and find required documents online.
Space is limited, and seats are assigned on a rolling basis.
