In 2010, then San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro convened the Brainpower Taskforce to shape San Antonio 2020, a citywide initiative designed to unite the community around a shared vision for a stronger future. As part of this effort, the mayor’s taskforce reviewed community input, local data, and national research, ultimately identifying high-quality pre-kindergarten as a critical investment for long-term success. In response to the taskforce’s findings, Mayor Castro proposed a one-eighth-cent ($0.125) sales tax to create Pre-K 4 SA, an early education initiative. Voters approved the measure in November 2012 with 53% support.

In March 2020, the Keep Pre-K 4 SA campaign began to advocate for the program’s renewal on the May ballot. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the vote was postponed to November 2020, when voters overwhelmingly reauthorized the program with 73.3% approval, extending funding for another eight years. Revenue from the sales tax supports Pre-K 4 SA’s five high-quality early education centers, professional development for educators, family engagement, and grants aimed at expanding access to pre-kindergarten. The program initially focused on funding its own high-quality centers, however, it has since expanded to support preschool slots at other programs across the city through a competitive grant process.

Fund Purpose and Impact

Pre-K 4 SA is a citywide early childhood and family initiative dedicated to expanding access to high-quality, full-day preschool for San Antonio’s 3- and 4-year-olds, with a focus on children from families who have low incomes. The program provides free preschool, nutritious meals, and transportation for qualifying students. Enrollment is also available to nonqualifying families on a sliding scale. Beyond the classroom, Pre-K 4 SA offers parent education, family engagement programs, and ongoing professional development for early childhood educators. Its instructional approach is grounded in the HighScope curriculum, emphasizing consistent routines, purposeful play, and executive function development through the plan-do-review sequence. The curriculum integrates social-emotional learning, outdoor experiences, healthy food and cooking, and civic learning.

Pre-K 4 SA has delivered a broad range of critical services and support to families in the city, leading to the following:

Support of more than 21,000 children across 198 different schools between 2016 and 2021
Provision of 18,270 hours of free professional learning to 1,120 early childhood educators in 2024-2025
Hosted more than 36,898 attendees at community events and outreach engagements as of 2025

These investments have delivered meaningful results for children and families, including the following outcomes:

Students who participated in Pre-K 4 SA demonstrate higher third-grade math scores compared to nonparticipants.
Children who were enrolled in Pre-K 4 SA have better school attendance in elementary school than their peers who did not attend.
78.9% of parents who were in the Pre-K 4 SA family engagement program reported teaching letters, words, and numbers at home.

Governance and Administration

Pre-K 4 SA operates as an official department of the City of San Antonio, led by a CEO (appointed by the mayor) and governed by the members of a Board of Directors (of which one member is appointed by the mayor). The Pre-K 4 SA department also includes additional staff members. The workforce initiative is supported by city leadership and the Board of Directors, ensuring strong oversight and alignment with the city’s broader educational goals.