SAN MARCOS CISD
The impact of inflation has finally found its way into the classroom. At a special called meeting, the San Marcos CISD school board voted to approve a raise in tuition for their 2025-2026 prekindergarten program. This is the first raise in tuition since the program was founded.
The current enrollment cost for the Bonham pre-k program is $3,900 a year per student. The cost of expenditures to run the program is around $190,000. The increase requested would take the tuition rate to $6,500. The pre-k facilitator proposed to add a one time registration fee of $50. One of the reasons for the price increase is that it would make the program fully funded just by tuition in a time of uncertain funds for education on a state and federal level. The program usually has 30-35 tuition paying students enrolled and would need to have 35 students to meet the operations costs. SMCISD Board President Anne Halsey asked what the outreach plan was for enrollment since numbers have been down this year. The pre-k team explained they have a flyer plan, and Halsey asked that those flyers be shared with elementary school students and an e-blast to all students who might have younger siblings in need of prekindergarten education. The pre-k team is working on commissioning a video advertisement as well since enrollment opened on April 7. Some of the program’s perks they wish to advertise is that there is certified teachers, high quality instructional materials and a partnership with Texas State University.
SMCISD Board member Miguel Arredondo wanted to clarify that the free pre-k program for eligible students and families was still an option for candidates that meet the income-based requirements. The pre-k team ensured that they were still using the TA qualifications for pre-k eligibility and explained the full requirements could be found on the TA website. Arredondo suggested the district reach out to their partners at the Chamber of Commerce, Human Relations at TXST and Christius Health to get the word out to working parents that the school district offers high quality childcare. Halsey spoke to the fact that this is the first tuition increase since the program started and the reason is due to funding issues at the state level and because the school board has been supplementing the tuition based program. She said she believes this rate still makes them competitive compared to the other tuition based pre-k programs in the area. Arredondo asked what the capacity was for the pre-k program, and the Bonham team informed him they currently have around 400 students but they could facilitate 500. They currently have 42 tuition students, which is equal to the size of two classrooms. The board made the motion to approve in a five to zero vote.
