Eligible 4-year-olds are able to attend full-day prekindergarten at both Tomball and Magnolia ISDs after TISD opened its new prekindergarten center, located on Keefer Road behind the staff development center, in August. MISD has offered full-day pre-K since the 2019-20 school year, according to previous reporting.
Districts previously offering half-day pre-K are required to offer full-day pre-K after the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3 in 2019, Community Impact previously reported. Districts are also required to have a pre-K program if they have 15 or more eligible 4-year-olds, according to the Texas Education Agency.
To be eligible for pre-K, students must meet one of the requirements, which includes being unable to speak or comprehend English, being educationally disadvantaged, being homeless, being in or having been in foster care, or being the child of an active-duty member of the armed forces, among other things.
“It has been a lot of heavy lifting, but it’s been beautiful to see the team collaborate and come together in this new and exciting way for our first-ever standalone pre-K center,” TISD Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said.
Local districts’ pre-K programs
In TISD, the district opened its prekindergarten center—dubbed the Early Excellence Academy—this August, welcoming over 300 students. The district has spent around $20 million on the center and everything needed for its opening, funding it in part with 2021 bond money, Salazar-Zamora said.
“I am very excited,” Salazar-Zamora said. “A lot of time and attention went into what this experience will be like for our youngest learners—our little scholars, as I love to call them.”
Planning for TISD’s prekindergarten center began after HB 3 was signed into law, Salazar-Zamora said. In 2020, the district applied for a three-year waiver to allow TISD to phase in full-day pre-K, according to previous reporting.
“District leadership took site visits to look at several premier pre-K programs across the nation for ideas and advice,” Salazar-Zamora said. “And I’m so pleased that we landed on a facility that I believe everybody will be exceptionally proud of.”
Alongside the prekindergarten center, which has capacity for 500 students, the district will continue to operate pre-K on some of its campuses, Salazar-Zamora said.
“We’re a fast-growth district, so I think it will happen within two years,” Salazar-Zamora said about the pre-K center reaching capacity.
Salazar-Zamora also said there were only a few new employees hired with teachers at existing campuses moving over to the prekindergarten center.
Meanwhile, Magnolia ISD introduced full-day pre-K at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, Community Impact previously reported. The district hired 13 teachers for the program prior to that school year and an additional three teachers in fall 2019.
For the 2023-24 school year, MISD is projecting 450 students enrolled in pre-K—an increase from the 433 students enrolled in pre-K in the 2022-23 school year, according to the district.
During the 2021-22 school year, TISD had 310 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in its pre-K programs, according to the Texas Education Agency. That is an increase following the 2020-21 school year, when 209 students were enrolled.
“We want our youngest learners to have a love for reading and for learning,” Salazar-Zamora said. “And I truly believe this facility will do that and then some.”
