Q&A with San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro: Preschool initiative ‘a model for the nation’
A few years ago, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro – the Democratic Party’s first Hispanic keynote convention speaker – decided his city needed to expand its preschool opportunities for young children. To pay for it, Castro built a coalition of public-private partnerships and bipartisan support and convinced voters in 2012 to approve a new tax that would fund expanded preschool opportunities throughout the city. Known as “Pre-K 4 San Antonio,” the program launched in the fall and is expected to expand in the coming years. Castro was the keynote speaker at EWA’s recent seminar for journalists on early childhood education, held at Tulane University in New Orleans. I had the opportunity to sit down with him for a Q&A. (You can also watch the replay of his keynote here.)
In his State of the Union address, President Obama said that instead of waiting for Congress to take action on funding preschool, he would build a coalition of public-private partners to help states and communities add more seats. Is there some freedom that comes with having more local control over the programs you create?
San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro talks to Carolina Astrain of the Victoria Advocate at EWA’s Feb. 2014 conference on early childhood education. (Photo: EWA)
It’s always good to be able to craft a policy initiative at the local level without too many things attached. However, the benefit to state or federal funding is the expansion – the ability to reach more families — even if sometimes there are a few hoops you have to jump through. I’m proud that in SA we’ve crafted a unique initiative. And I’m confident that in any state or federal analysis, we would be able to jump through the hoops that those levels of govt. would want because it’s a well-crafted initiative.
Your wife is a math specialist, working with students in grades 3-5. What is she observing when it comes to student readiness for learning?
What I’ve heard from Erica over the years is that there’s unevenness among the children. Some come