on the Nov. 3 ballot<\/a> would reauthorize the existing one-eighth-cent sales tax funding the program without increasing the tax rate.<\/p>\nDr. Sarah Baray, Pre-K 4 SA\u2019s CEO for 10 years, says thousands of families could be affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe serve 2,000 children directly. We serve another almost 5,000 for our partner providers,\u201d Baray said.<\/p>\n
Voters first approved Pre-K 4 SA in 2012 under then-Mayor Juli\u00e1n Castro and renewed funding in 2020.<\/p>\n
Castro still considers the program an important investment in San Antonio\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s 2026 or 2036 or beyond that, San Antonio is going to need to make sure that it has as strong an educated workforce as possible. And that\u2019s what Pre-K for SA in a big way is helping to deliver,\u201d Castro said.<\/p>\n
Beyond its four education centers, Pre-K 4 SA provides professional development for thousands of early childhood educators and partners with nearly 100 childcare providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what people know even less about is the fact that in addition to our schools, we work with thousands of early childhood educators every year,\u201d Baray said.<\/p>\n
If approved, the extension would support plans to expand infant and toddler care, strengthen partnerships and increase childcare options for families working nights and weekends.<\/p>\n
If rejected, current funding would continue until March 2029. Baray said City Council could place the issue before voters again in 2027 or 2028.<\/p>\n
Some parents are concerned about the program\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parents asking, \u2018What\u2019s going to happen and what will this mean?\u2019\u201d Baray said.<\/p>\n
Despite the uncertainty, Baray remains hopeful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m cautiously optimistic, because I\u2019m an optimist by nature, but I also, you know, I worry, because you don\u2019t know how elections are going to go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 For more than a decade, Pre-K 4 SA has helped thousands of San Antonio children…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[62981,82,84,83,14165],"class_list":["post-480904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-pre-k-4-sa","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}