Increase Support for Public Pre-K in Texas [Video]

This brief is part of “Election 2024: Policy Playbook,” a series by Rice University and the Baker Institute that offers critical context, analysis, and recommendations to inform policymaking in the United States and Texas.

• Efforts to expand public prekindergarten (pre-K) in Texas were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and pre-K enrollment in the Houston region is only now recovering to pre-pandemic levels.
• Daily attendance also declined during the pandemic and has not yet rebounded.
• Public pre-K participation in the Houston region is linked to a greater likelihood of children being ready for kindergarten and slightly higher English proficiency scores for emergent bilingual students.
• Texas should increase both pre-K funding and its efforts to boost enrollment and attendance so that eligible students can access high-quality public pre-K programs.

Decades of research have found that high-quality preschool programs benefit children’s academic, social, and emotional development, with these benefits lasting through elementary school into adulthood. This is particularly true for underserved students, such as those who are economically disadvantaged, …