McAllen ISD votes to offer free pre-K program for eligible students

The McAllen ISD school board last Monday voted unanimously to change the pre-Kindergarten program to offer it for free to all eligible 4 year olds for the upcoming fall semester.

With McAllen ISD serving nearly 1,250 students in its current pre-K program across 18 elementary campuses, the school board is looking to expand it by offering the program for free to all who meet the age requirement.

“It’s a very intentional financial investment we are making for the children of our community,” school board president Debbie Crane Aliseda said. “The impact it will have, to be with trained certified teachers, is life changing.”

Children who turn 4 on or before Sept. 1, 2024 are eligible for the program.

Lisa Cavazos, McAllen ISD director for Student Outreach, said previous eligibility depended mostly on language or income.

Cavazos said the income eligibility was based on the guideline for the National School Lunch Program. She said if a family was eligible for free or reduced meals, they would qualify for the pre-K program.

Another criteria was if the child was unable to speak or comprehend the English language.

Other criteria included if the family was homeless, had a member in the armed forces, was eligible for the Star of Texas award, which is given to peace officers, firefighters and EMTs killed in action, or if the child is in foster care.

If children did not meet criteria but their parents still wanted them to be in the program, it came at a cost of $475 per month.

With McAllen ISD being an open enrollment district, students can live outside of the district and can participate in the pre-K program but Cavazos said there is a priority to students that live in the district.

“We want to connect students that live in the neighborhood to their neighborhood school,” she said. “ If there is space within the classroom then we can look at in-district transfers and out of district transfers but the main priority is to get children connected to their neighborhood school.”

Expecting to serve more students next fall, Cavazos said the number of pre-K classes, the average of students in the classroom and staffing depends on location and enrollment for the elementary schools.

With some campuses having one pre-K classroom and some having up to four based on the population density of different parts of McAllen, she said it is a process managed by campus leaders to keep a class average of 22. If a class exceeds the average, an instructional assistant is assigned to the classroom.

When asked how many additional students McAllen ISD expects this fall, Cavazos replied, “We have historically had many more requests than we have had spots to offer. Some years there has been, you know, 30 or 40 additional requests, and some years there have been over 100 requests. … We think that we will definitely have an increase, but to put a number on it just relies on so many factors.”

Cavazos said there is a lot of research showing the value of pre-K programs and how important it is to develop early childhood skills that sets up children for success moving forward.

“You can set the foundation, the tone, you can even establish a love for learning in children very, very early that will persist throughout their entire educational career,” she said.

Parents can register their child for McAllen ISD’s free pre-K program through the district’s Skyward software system. If parents do not have a Skyward account, they can contact an elementary campus or the office of Student Outreach at (956)-687-6473 for more information.