SAN ANTONIO – Rep. Joaquin Castro, D - San Antonio, introduced a bill Wednesday aimed at expanding early childhood education opportunities across the country.
"For generations in America, we've seen that education is the surest path to success. That is why today I'm introducing the Pre-K for USA Act," Castro said from the floor of the House of Representatives.
The legislation would allow local education agencies and governments to apply directly to the federal government for grants to develop and expand pre-K programs. Castro said the current system, in which school districts must rely on their state legislatures to apply for the funding, is broken.
"Cities and schools districts need to have the ability to step up to the plate and pick up the slack where their state governments are failing them," he said.
In his remarks Castro singled out Texas as an example of a state that has kept local municipalities and school districts from receiving the funds needed for early childhood education.
"Unfortunately, in my home state of Texas, as is the case in other states, legislators have curtailed their investment in education. Instead, they have picked up the troubling practice of pretending to balance budgets by slashing early-childhood education funds," he said.
San Antonio used a voter approved sales-tax increase to fund Pre-K 4 SA, and the program recently graduated its inaugural class. Other cities, such as Ft. Worth, have used bond elections to establish funding for early childhood education.
Pre-K 4 SA CEO Kathy Bruck said with the right amount of funding in place the city's program can be replicated across the country.
"There's been a lot of interest nationally in doing something about pre-K, making a difference for children before they start school so that they start ready to learn," Bruck said. "There are a lot of municipalities that are very interested in pursuing (funding) on their own. This opens the door."
In the coming weeks Castro will try to rally support for the bill among his House colleagues. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has already included Castro's bill in a piece of pre-K legislation it's working on.
Castro wants to create a pre-K caucus in Congress with the ultimate goal of getting a bill on the president's desk.