A new 25,000-square-foot early childhood education facility that will serve around 200 children on the South Side of San Antonio is set to break ground in January after years of planning and discussion.
The Educare San Antonio initiative joins over two dozen others nationwide and is designed to help fill a need in one of the city’s many “child care” deserts, where there are far fewer quality child care slots than needed.
The school will also be a teaching model, allowing area early childhood educators and those looking to enter the field to see best practices firsthand, according to program leaders.
The initiative is a collaborative effort between Early Matters, city-funded Pre-K 4 SA, Avance, the Charles Butt Foundation, the Holt Family Foundation, Workforce Solutions Alamo and more than 20 other organizations. The design phase for the new facility, which will be located on Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s campus, began last April.
In 2022, the City of San Antonio pledged $7 million toward the effort, using money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which was given to local governments in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three major funding sources make up the initial $22 million construction costs for the project, including $9.6 million from the city and county, $7.9 million from TAMUSA and $4.4 million from philanthropic funding, according to numbers provided by the university.
This follows what Educares calls its “blended and braided” funding model.
Pre-K 4 SA has also pledged $1 million for classroom materials, outdoor learning environments and security enhancements, according to its CEO Sarah Baray.
Construction is set to start in January, according to Tony Plascencia, principal and senior project designer at Pfluger Architects.
The center is being designed to look and feel distinct within the campus, blending TAMUSA’s classic architectural style with features that reflect its unique purpose as a place of early learning, Plascencia told the San Antonio Report.
“We wanted to make the building fun and accessible, yet still harmonize with the university’s style,” he said. “The design elements, like arches and canopies, are meant to reflect that balance.”
Early renderings of what a base model of the building could look like were provided to the San Antonio Report.
Some additional features, like a covering for a planned communal plaza in front of the center, will be added if the budget allows once construction is underway, Plascencia said. The building is also designed with security in mind, with play areas and outdoor class spaces shielded from street view and natural elements being used to promote natural play.
“The goal was never to buy a playset and just dump it in the middle of the courtyard,” Plascencia said. “It was really to have these elements that were built within the natural elements.”
Play areas will also not be the only outdoor elements of the new campus.
“Every classroom has immediate access to the outdoors, which is essential in the Educare model,” Plascencia said. “The outdoor spaces aren’t an afterthought—they’re integrated right alongside the classrooms to promote an organic flow between indoor and outdoor learning.”
Both teachers and students can learn from this unique design practice.
“We’re trying to create teachers who understand how to teach in an environment that promotes both indoor and outdoor learning,” the designer said.
The project is the latest move in TAMUSA’s effort to professionalize the early childhood education industry.
Through degree programs, partnerships and the forthcoming Educare center, leaders say they hope to help shift the conversation and make TAMUSA the “hub for high-quality early childhood education” in San Antonio and the state.
Some university students with children will eventually have access to drop their kids off at the center once it is completed through a program called “Young Jaguars,” which was launched early this January in a temporary location.
Through the early version of that program, plans are already being developed to help students from across the university learn while contributing to the success of the program.
Melissa Jozwiak, a professor in the department of educator and leadership preparation, previously told the San Antonio Report that the program is part of the lab school model envisioned for the TAMUSA students studying childhood education.
“It is a place that currently early childhood students are going to, and they are spending time observing children, they are planning experiences,” she said. “Then, the exemplary teachers that are employed in the classrooms are giving our university students feedback.”
Other learning opportunities include those for business students, who might “want to understand the impact of state licensing regulations on an operating budget,” Jozwiak said in April, so “they work with the program director to understand that intersection.”
“Across all majors, we’re actually hoping all of the colleges will take advantage of having students come in and learn in the space with us,” Jozwiak said.
The facility will tentatively open in 2026 with enrollment open to families in Bexar County and funding assistance available for low-income households.
