While San Antonio has more supply of early childhood education programs than many other Texas communities, only 15% of preschool seats in the area are available on any given day.
Only 3% of those seats are rated for quality by the state.
And those slots can be very expensive, with the average cost of early child care in the city ranging from $10,000-$12,000 a year.
On this week’s episode of “bigcitysmalltown,” podcast host Bob Rivard spoke with three leaders and advocates of early childhood resources: Peter J. Holt, CEO of HOLTCAT and early education philanthropist, Pre-K 4 SA CEO Sarah Baray and Mark Larson, the executive director of Early Matters, a nonprofit that makes policy recommendations on early education.
While San Antonio has made strides in early education with the 2013 creation of Pre-K 4 SA, a taxpayer funded low-cost preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds, a city-commissioned study found that child care providers in San Antonio operate at about 70% of the capacity they’re licensed to provide, meaning seats are very limited.
Even fewer of those slots are for infants — less than 2% of available slots designated for infants and toddlers are considered high-quality — meaning the city’s lowest income families are left with the fewest options for high-quality child care.
To address the need, Pre-K 4 SA will start offering spots to infants and toddlers at the new South Center location this fall.
At the state level, lawmakers are considering funding full-day preK for 4-year-olds. Currently, the state only pays for half-day preschool programs run by public school districts.
During the show, Holt said that while the state and city’s shift to fund early education more is “phenomenal,” there is more work to be done.
Baray and Larson agree.
“While we do in fact have more supply than many communities do, it is still not quite sufficient,” Baray said about the city’s child care study. “More importantly, the supply is not currently rated for quality.”
Preschool programs in San Antonio are largely privately owned mom-and-pop style daycare centers, even with the existence of Pre-K 4 SA, Headstart and school district-based preK programs.
While these small businesses are not necessarily doing a bad job, Baray said there is no way to rate their quality because they’re not enrolled in any eligibility or criteria program.
Adding to the issue, child care employees wages in San Antonio are $11-$12 per hour on average, resulting in high turnover rates and understaffing at daycare and preschool centers.
Larson, who advocates for greater early childhood support from business owners and local elected officials, said the state doesn’t do enough to support the development of children age 3 and under even though 90% of brain development takes place before someone’s first day of preK.
“We’ve largely left the [early education] sector to fend for itself,” Larson said.
The solution, all three guests agreed, are more public-private partnerships to lower the cost of child care, increase the wages of child care employees and strengthen the quality of preschool programs.
Hear more about the state of early education in San Antonio on this week’s episode of the “bigcitysmalltown” podcast.
