Business Leaders from San Antonio’s Greater Chamber, Hispanic Chamber, North Chamber and Women’s Chamber, say they are behind Mayor Castro’s Pre-K 4 SA program.
“And we’re behind it for one simple reason," said Richard Perez, "and that is that we want to be known as a city of education.”
Perez, along with Ramiro Cavazos, Larry Anthis, and Dr. Yvonne Katz, spoke of the advantages the program would have with thousands of four-year-olds in the Alamo City.
“It is very clear that a high quality, full time pre-k program for our children reaps tremendous investments in students,” said Cavazos.
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“You can’t talk about business issues without talking about education,” said Anthis.
“Do you want to spend about $4,000 a student in the early childhood programs?" asked Katz. "Or do you want to spend $40,000 to incarcerate them after they dropped out?”
Early education made the difference for Darrick Green
Green said he’s a first generation college student whose parents cleaned homes and offices for a living.
“For me to go on to college and not only get my undergraduate degree but my master’s degree is a direct testament to the early education that I had as part of a Head Start program,” said Green.
He said that he hopes his daughter and many more children get the kind of start he did.
If approved in November, it would raise the sales tax by one-eighth of a cent to funnel $31 million into model education centers, teacher training and student learning.
