Tagged: Pre-K 4 SA

Mayor Julian Castro continues his push for his Pre-K 4 SA initiative at every opportunity. Monday, he spoke to the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce about educational challenges the city faces.

He told business leaders that San Antonio is a rapidly growing city with educational challenges that will only grow more with the population increase.

Over bacon and scrambled eggs, he said Texas and San Antonio repeatedly ranks in the bottom-tier of educational achievement. "The challenge for San Antonio is that we can't abide by that anymore in the 21st Century," he said.

Since his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro has become a national political figure. This morning, Castro was on NBC's "Today Show" talking about education.

The Pre-K 4 SA campaign is launching a video showing preschoolers at San Antonio College’s Early Childhood Development Center talking about their school experience and asking voters for support.

The Pre-K initiative would add one-eighth of a cent to the sales tax generating $31 million per year to fund pre-K for 22,000 4-year-olds in the city. Mayor Julián Castro said Pre-K 4 SA would be the first of its kind in the state.

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro has gone national with his Pre-K 4 SA initiative, proclaiming at the Democratic National Convention that it’s one way he is invested in education for the youngest of his constituents. Castro is counting on the measure to pass in the general election to give thousands of four-year-olds a quality, full-day early education.

Rutgers University’s Dr. Steven Barnett, who is the director for the National Institute for Early Education Research, thinks the program will make a difference, despite what critics say.

Business Leaders from San Antonio’s Greater Chamber, Hispanic Chamber, North Chamber and Women’s Chamber, say they are behind Mayor Castro’s Pre-K 4 SA program.

“And we’re behind it for one simple reason," said Richard Perez, "and that is that we want to be known as a city of education.”

Perez, along with Ramiro Cavazos, Larry Anthis, and Dr. Yvonne Katz, spoke of the advantages the program would have with thousands of four-year-olds in the Alamo City.