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In August 2013, then-Mayor Julián Castro welcomed the inaugural class of Pre-K 4 SA through the doors of San Antonio’s new sales-tax-funded preschool program.
Thirteen years later, that first cohort of roughly 650 four-year-olds are now beginning their senior year of high school, and the San Antonio City Council is considering asking voters to renew the dedicated 1/8th cent sales tax that funds the program two years ahead of schedule. Voters first approved the dedicated sales tax in 2012 for eight years and renewed it for another eight years in 2020.
In the interim, Pre-K 4 SA has expanded to serve about 2,000 students a year at four San Antonio centers. Last year, the program moved its South Education Center to a new location and opened up four classrooms for infants and toddlers. Pre-K 4 SA also serves as a resource to other early childhood providers across the city, including by opening their classrooms to observation of best practices.
“People want us to expand and do even more. And we're like, well, we could, but really what we want to be able to do is strengthen existing programs that are out there, so that families have great options wherever they are,” Pre-K 4 SA CEO Sarah Baray said at the time. “We'll never be able to serve every child under the age of five. That's just not a reasonable goal. And so, what we want to do is be very intentional about what role do these demonstration sites play in the larger ecosystem and helping to develop that.”
Every few years researchers contracted by the city have released reports showing positive results. A 2016 report by Edvance Research found that Pre-K 4 SA students start preschool 20 points behind the national average in cognitive thinking but end the year 18 points ahead. A 2019 report by UT San Antonio’s Urban Education Institute found that the first cohort of Pre-K 4 SA students scored higher on state achievement tests than students from similar backgrounds that didn’t attend public preschool.
Over time, the program also developed a sterling reputation among early childhood researchers more broadly.
“For almost 15 years now, they have been kind of this beacon of quality,” said Kim Kofron, the executive director of early childhood education with the Texas nonprofit Children at Risk. “It really kind of led the nation in how local communities can do their part in helping to support early childhood education.”
G.G. Weisenfeld with the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University said Pre-K 4 SA is a “gold star program” that serves as a national model, and that her organization often asks Baray to speak at webinars and presentations.
Weisenfeld is the co-author of a study on Pre-K in large American cities, and she said Pre-K 4 SA is one of the few city preschool programs that meets all 10 of her organization’s benchmarks for quality.
“We always start looking at our state programs, and Texas has lowered the standards over the years. So, for example, now a BA is not required in non-public schools. Teacher specialized training is no longer not required in the non-public schools,” Weisenfeld said. “San Antonio Pre-K, on the other hand, does meet all of those requirements.”
Weisenfeld pointed to Pre-K 4 SA’s standards for curriculum support, teacher education, and continuous improvement as key elements of quality.
Pre-K 4 SA uses the High Scopes curriculum, which Weisenfeld said is a research-based curriculum that lends itself well to the type of high commitment to professional development available at the San Antonio program.
“The other thing that's unique about Pre-K for SA, kind of compared to some of the other city programs … is that there's a strong leader who understands early childhood, and that's her focus,” Weisenfeld said. “Some places have maybe like a county person who does early childhood but also does a few other things.”
Weisenfeld said Pre-K 4 SA also stands apart because of a governance structure that allows for both accountability and stability.
“It's a CEO and there's a separate board,” Weisenfeld said. “It allows for someone who has early childhood experience to be that leader, not someone who can just kind of come in and maybe is appointed for some other reason.”
Both Weisenfeld and Kofron said Pre-K 4 SA has a magnifying effect because of the role it plays serving other service providers.
“They have a shared service program, the largest in the state, with over 100 childcare centers that they do business supports (for) and help them raise their quality through the Texas Rising Star program and education support for their teachers,” Kofron said. “I think that just goes really to the model of what really being a community partner and not just serving more kids, but really, what does the whole industry need? And really thinking about that whole child and the whole system.”
The most recent contracted annual report on Pre-K 4 SA showed kindergarten readiness levels in 2025 ranged from 74% in literacy to 92% in physical outcomes, with 87% achieving kindergarten readiness in cognitive thinking and social-emotional scores.
Weisenfeld said being ready for kindergarten sets children up for success in their early years of school.
“And then there are longitudinal studies that have shown that children who go to high-quality early education do better in high school, do better career in college,” Weisenfeld said.
