Pre-K in Texas sees dip of 22%
Total of younger kids in early education also dropped at same rate
Prekindergarten enrollment in Texas public schools dropped 22 percent in the first half of the 2020-21 school year, state officials confirmed Friday, offering the most detailed look yet at the scope of a trend worrying education advocates amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas Education Agency officials said about 194,100 students were enrolled in a public school prekindergarten class as of October, down from about 249,200 at the same time in 2019. The number of 3-year-olds in early education programs also fell 22 percent, down to 20,100 this school year, while enrollment in kindergarten and fifth grade tumbled 6 percent.
Statewide enrollment in all grades dipped about 3 percent this school year, but educators are fretting most about the students in early education and prekindergarten, who are not yet required to attend public or private school. The decline also sets back efforts by the Legislature in 2019 to raise prekindergarten enrollment and offer more full-day classes by increasing funding for early education.
Researchers generally agree that students benefit academically and behaviorally from attending prekindergarten, though some uncertainty remains about the extent of the im-
pact. A 2017 study by the Houston Education Research Consortium concluded that students in Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest, “are significantly more likely than their peers” to score as ready for kindergarten if they attended prekindergarten.
“We worked so hard to get full-day pre-K for all, because we know the data tells us when children are enrolled in formal education in pre-K, they do better in subsequent grades,” said Melanie Johnson, president and CEO of the Houstonbased nonprofit Collaborative for Children. “We will have so many children where we’ll see some of the historical dropout and third-grade literacy rates decline. It’s very daunting for us.”
In recent months, many Houston-area school districts have reported significant enrollment losses in their earliest grades. However, state officials had not released statewide enrollment data by grade until Friday.
TEA officials also reported that 54 percent of Texas students were learning on campus by the end of October. Several Houston-area superintendents have reported a gradual increase in on-campus enrollment since resuming in-person classes.