State Profiles

Alabama	Arkansas	California	Connecticut
Florida	Georgia	Illinois	Iowa
Kansas	Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine
Maryland	Massachusetts	New Jersey	New Mexico
New York	North Carolina	Ohio	Oklahoma
Oregon	Pennsylvania	South Carolina	Tennessee
Texas	Vermont	Virginia	Washington
Washington DC	West Virginia	Wisconsin

1984		The Public School Prekindergarten initiative is established to provide a half-day program to children who are homeless, qualify for free or reduced price lunch, or are unable to speak and understand English. Districts with 15 or more eligible children are required to offer the program, which is supported by a combination of state and local funds.
1999		The state legislature appropriates $100 million per year to make competitive grants available to school districts and charter schools who wish to expand the half-day pre-k program to a full day. Priority is given to districts with low third-grade reading scores.
2003		The Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) project is approved to promote the integration of early childhood programs and improve children's school readiness.
2004		The Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition releases "The Texas Plan," a collaboratively developed ten-year public policy vision to enhance early childhood education and development. Hundreds of Texans worked together over a two-year period, agreed upon a set of guiding principles, and identified common policy goals.
2005		The Texas legislature passes, with bipartisan support, Senate Bill 23 to strengthen and expand the Texas Early Education Model. Specifically, the bill establishes the Texas School Readiness Certification System, which offers a method for documenting program activities and children's learning. In the fall of 2006, 1,000 new classrooms will adopt TEEM as well as the Certification System. The Limited English Proficiency (LEP) pilot program is established to identify, evaluate, and document effective dual-language pre-k programs in Texas. Government organizations (including school districts), public nonprofit agencies, and community based organizations may apply for grants to fund these new programs.
2006		A statewide poll conducted by Impact Texas Communications, LLP surveys 1,200 voters and finds that over two-thirds (68 percent) of Texans believe that the state government has the responsibility to provide high-quality pre-k programs to help children prepare for success in K-12 education, and nearly three in four (72 percent) voters believe that these programs should be fully funded for all young children regardless of income. Furthermore, 83 percent of voters would support increased revenue if needed to fund pre-k programs for all young children, and three in four voters (majorities from all party affiliations and areas of the state) said they would be more likely to support a candidate running for public office if he or she supported making quality pre-k available to all children in Texas. A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Universally-Accessible Pre-Kindergarten Education in Texas, a study released by the Bush School of Government and Public Service, reports that making pre-k available to all children is one of the most cost-effective educational investments that the state can make; for every $1 invested in pre-k, the state will yield at least $3.50 in return. Amendments to House Bill 1 expand pre-k eligibility to include all three- and four-year-old children with parents on active duty, in an activated reserve unit, or who were killed or wounded in action. Additionally, children remain eligible for pre-k even if their parent's duty status changes. This groundbreaking legislation makes pre-k available to the 2,698 military children who do not meet any of the original eligibility requirements and serves as a model for other states as they work to expand access to state-funded pre-k programs (Press release in English and Spanish). In September, early education advocates in 37 Texas communities participated in a live, statewide satellite conference to discuss their agenda and strategy for the upcoming legislative session. View a recording (WMV) of the one-hour conference broadcast.
2007		Governor Rick Perry proposes to increase funding for TEEM by $40 million in FY2008. Unfortunately, due to political wrangling, the bill was never taken up by the House and died on the floor. The passing of SB113 expands eligibility of pre-k to children who have ever been in the foster care system. TECEC launches their parent engagement campaign with a satellite conference that informed parents in 15 communities what to look for in a quality pre-k program and how they can be advocates for pre-k in Texas.

The Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition (TECEC) has dramatically strengthened the pre-k movement in Texas by successfully creating a strong coalition of over 200 foundations, businesses, providers, universities, advocates, community groups, and organizations who understand the importance of pre-k. As a result of TECEC's coalition-building efforts, diverse stakeholders from every region in Texas have come together for the first time, agreed upon a set of guiding principles, and committed to work together to improve access to quality pre-k in Texas.

United Ways of Texas (UWT) has done a wonderful job engaging the business community in the pre-k movement. Over the past year, they have convened business leaders at seven economic forums and identified a core group of committed business-community pre-k champions. UWT has also commissioned a voter survey on pre-k, educated policymakers and business leaders about the issue, and partnered with the Military Child Education Coalition and a bipartisan group of legislators to expand pre-k eligibility to the children of military families.

The groundbreaking passage of House Bill 1, which expands pre-k access to children of military personnel, would not have been possible without strong support from its sponsors: Representatives Lois Kolkhorst, Dianne Delisi, Dennis Bonnen, Toby Goodman, Gene Seaman, Joe Straus, Veronica Gonzales, Aaron Pena, Mark Strama, Carlos Uresti, and Michael Villarreal; Senators Kip Averitt, Florence Shapiro, Steve Ogden, Judith Zaffirini, Leticia Van de Putte, and Eliot Shapleigh. This bipartisan group of legislators understands the importance of pre-k, and the passage of this bill represents significant progress towards providing voluntary pre-k for all of Texas's children.

As the polling, research, and legislative action indicate, a strong foundation for pre-k expansion has been laid in Texas. However, there is still much to be done. TECEC and UWT will continue to build their coalition, educate citizens and policymakers about the benefits of pre-k, and advocate for improved program quality and access. Short-term objectives include increased funding for the delivery of pre-k in community settings, improving standards governing class size and adult-child ratios, and a streamlined, educator-friendly, professional-development system. In addition, TECEC and UWT will closely monitor the implementation of the Texas School Readiness Certification System.