Education

Mayor Julian Castro continues his push for his Pre-K 4 SA initiative at every opportunity. Monday, he spoke to the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce about educational challenges the city faces.

He told business leaders that San Antonio is a rapidly growing city with educational challenges that will only grow more with the population increase.

Over bacon and scrambled eggs, he said Texas and San Antonio repeatedly ranks in the bottom-tier of educational achievement. "The challenge for San Antonio is that we can't abide by that anymore in the 21st Century," he said.

The Department of Education grant is part of $223 million presented to historically black colleges and universities. Grant monies are awarded based on each school’s enrollment and the 11,000 students at St. Philip’s College make it the second largest recipient.

St. Philip’s President Adena Willams Loston said the college will receive this grant for several years.

“They come to us in a five year cycle," said Williams. "We’re starting a new cycle this year from 2012 to 2017 and we do expect that our allocation in the next four years will be roughly about $5 to $6 million."

After spending nearly two years on planning, design and gathering community input, the money from the SAISD’s 2010 Bond is starting to dig deep.

Some of the 22 SAISD facilities receiving drastic renovations are 100 years old. SAISD Interim Superintendent Sylvester Perez said updates will allow students to have the same opportunities as other school districts.

“Not just modernizing them," said Perez, " but meeting the educational needs of the 21st century."

Since his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro has become a national political figure. This morning, Castro was on NBC's "Today Show" talking about education.