Castro’s Pre-K 4 SA program getting undeserved national laud as ‘universal preschool’

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — Less than a week into the former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro’s official bid for the White House and the fact checkers are already busy clarifying his time leading the San Antonio government.

The first issue raised was spotted by the San Antonio Express-News, which called out coverage done by national media outlets on Castro’s Pre-K 4 SA program.

The paper says the New York Times and the Washington Post both called the program universal preschool, as Castro has described in in his campaign so far.

The problem is, Pre-K 4 SA is not universal.

Currently, only 2,050 kids are enrolled in the program, which accounts for just 8 percent of San Antonio’s four-year-old population.

Program CEO Sarah Baray told the paper the goal is for traditional schools to provide this level of education for all preschoolers.  But right now, that’s not the case.

“We’re not universal. We lead with quality rather than access,” Baray told the San Antonio Express-News. “It’s better to have fewer seats that are high quality than more seats that are mediocre.”

Pre-K 4 SA operates out of four centers across the city.  It is funded using a portion of the city’s sales tax.