TECEC
Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition

HB 130 off to the Governor's Desk

Austin, Texas, May 28, 2009——Yesterday at 11:50 PM, a bi-partisan effort to support high-quality full-day pre-k in many Texas school districts passed the Senate, 26-5. House Bill 130 ensures an enhanced quality full-day prekindergarten program provided by public school districts in conjunction with community providers and is authored by Representative Diane Patrick (R-Arlington) with Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) sponsoring the bill in the Senate. Many Capitol insiders in Austin are calling HB 130 the most popular bill of the 81st Texas Legislature. The bill set a record in the House with 100 joint authors and co-authors and recently passed the lower chamber by a vote of 106-31.

The next step for the popular pre-k bill is to clear the Governor’s desk. “Our coalition is extremely optimistic that Governor Perry will sign HB 130 into law,” said Kara Johnson, Executive Director of the Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition. “A $25 million dollar pre-k investment is an economic development vehicle that will ultimately save taxpayers $87,500,000,” she added.

Supporters of HB 130 cite Texas specific research conducted by the Texas A&M School of Government and Public Service, which found that for every $1.00 invested in high-quality pre-k, at least $3.50 is returned to Texas communities. Savings for taxpayers are realized long-term because children who experience high-quality pre-k have higher rates of high-school graduation, higher earning power as adults, fewer referrals to special education, and significantly less involvement with the criminal justice system.

The new pre-k program is a voluntary pilot project that will benefit currently eligible four year olds in Texas.

HB 130 aims to sustain many school districts’ pre-k programs that are in jeopardy of losing funding for full-day classes. Under HB 130, high quality programs negatively impacted by the changes to Pre-kindergarten Early Start Grant will receive priority in the new funding stream created by the bill. Programs that receive funding under HB 130 must maintain certain new quality enhancements, including specialized training in early childhood development for pre-k teachers, class size limits of 22 children, and a child to staff ratio of 11 to 1. “HB 130 will protect school districts at risk of losing their full-day pre-k programs,” said Jason Sabo, Vice President of Public Policy for United Ways of Texas. “This bill ensures that these districts are rewarded for providing excellent pre-k programs with valuable state dollars,” he added.

Strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans have thrown their support behind high-quality full-day pre-k. In signing HB 130 into law, Governor Perry would affirm this bi-partisan effort to strengthen the reach of Texas tax dollars while enhancing the education of our youngest learners.

COMING SOON!



Only 2.2 percent of media coverage of education focuses on education of preschool-aged children

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