Fort Worth ISD to debut new pre-K partnership model. Here’s what it means for families.
The Fort Worth Independent School District is expanding its pre-K partnerships by launching a new model where a nonprofit organization will oversee a network of child care centers serving some of Fort Worth ISD’s youngest students.
Neighborhood PreK, the new program and nonprofit which is affiliated with Child Care Associates, is slated to begin in the 2025-26 school year and provide working families with child care options beyond traditional school hours. The 3- and 4-year-old students will be dually enrolled in the district’s public pre-K program and the child care center. Officials said the program also hopes to serve local child care providers by improving their economic sustainability, which would strengthen the overall early childhood education system.
Eligible child care centers must have a 3- or 4-star rating with the Texas Rising Star program, which are the highest rankings for the state’s quality rating and improvement system.
“Our goal is to ensure that every child in Fort Worth is prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond,” Fort Worth ISD Interim Superintendent Karen Molinar said in a statement. “This partnership addresses the existing unmet need in school-based prekindergarten programs by integrating community-based childcare options, providing more flexibility for families and better supporting their diverse needs.”
Credit was given to the Tarrant County Blue Ribbon Action Committee on Child Care for bringing the program forward in collaboration with Child Care Associates. The committee, spearheaded by Mayor Mattie Parker, formed in early 2022 with a focus on investing federal COVID-19 relief dollars into child care and early childhood to address issues exacerbated by the pandemic. One of the committee’s original goals was to create a mixed delivery system for children up to 5 years old, where pre-K could be accessed in community settings in addition to elementary schools.
“As a long-term goal, the partnership will also focus on ensuring that all students are reading at grade level by third grade, setting them on the path to academic success and lifelong learning,” according to district and child care officials.
Amity Halstead, executive director of Neighborhood PreK, told the Star-Telegram students will be assessed three times a year through the Circle Progress Monitoring System to measure where students are at in their early reading skills. Additionally, students will have access to early intervention services when needed.
“We’re thrilled about this new partnership and the opportunities it creates for early childhood education in Fort Worth,” Halstead said. “This collaboration really paves the way for lifelong success for our children, and we couldn’t be happier.”
The Fort Worth ISD school board recently approved Neighborhood PreK as the coordinating hub between the district and local child care centers, but a final agreement must return to the board for the program to officially begin. It remains to be seen how many child care providers could participate in the program and how many children could be served.
The partnership is seeking Senate Bill 1882 funding from the Texas Education Agency, which incentivizes districts to contract with open-enrollment charter schools, higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations or government entities. Fort Worth ISD already utilizes this funding for its Leadership Academy Network partnership with Texas Wesleyan University, which helped improve struggling schools through an extended school day, extra tutoring for students and additional support for teachers.
A more comparable program to Neighborhood PreK which utilizes Senate Bill 1882 funding is Austin ISD’s pre-K partnership with United Way for Great Austin, which has been in place for five school years. More than a dozen child care providers participate in the program.
The recent announcement of Neighborhood PreK comes after a similar program came to fruition this school year between the district and Child Care Associates known as PreK Today. Across five local Head Start locations, 153 children who are ages 3 and 4 and already enrolled in the federal program, which provides child development services to low-income families, and can also dually enroll as Fort Worth ISD students. Halstead, of Neighborhood PreK, also oversees the PreK Today program and noted that they will operate separately.
