Legislative Pre-K Requirements
Budget Rider 78
New Requirements for ALL Public and Charter Pre-Ks
What exactly is Rider 78? What does it say?
Rider 78 is a legislative action attached to the current budget.
- "Adopt a new rider requiring the Commissioner ensure that recipient school districts and charter schools use a portion of their Foundation School Program kindergarten entitlement, totaling $236 million statewide, to implement prekindergarten consistent with the requirements of a High-Quality Prekindergarten program, pursuant to the provisions in Education Code, §§29.167 – 29.171."
TEA Clarification on Rider 78
High-Quality Prekindergarten Program 15% Minimum Quality Allocation
Rider 78 ensures that school districts expend 15% of the districts’ prekindergarten foundation school program (FSP) funding on High-Quality Prekindergarten programs over the period of the biennium. As an example, the TEA State Funding Division has calculated the 15% minimum to be allocated for High Quality Prekindergarten programs in the 2018-19 biennium based on the four-year-old prekindergarten half-day average daily attendance (ADA). TEA will implement monitoring as necessary to ensure that FSP funds are used as described.