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Vidor ISD board approves state-backed pre-K partnership with local day cares
Summary
The Vidor ISD Board approved a state pilot that lets qualifying 3‑ and 4‑year‑olds receive public pre‑K at participating local day care centers. The partnership routes about 75% of per‑student reimbursement to day cares, retains roughly 15% for the district and allocates 10% to the consulting facilitator; the board voted 7–0.
The Vidor Independent School District Board of Trustees on Jan. 12 unanimously approved a pilot partnership under the Texas Workforce Commission that will allow eligible 3‑ and 4‑year‑olds to be co‑enrolled at participating local day care centers and receive district‑funded public pre‑kindergarten instruction while remaining in the daycare setting.
Mike Feinberg, a consultant with WorkTexas Training Center in Houston, told trustees the model is a pilot that blends day care hours with the district’s pre‑K minutes so parents save on the hours their child would otherwise pay for while meeting state eligibility and attendance rules. "The time they are in the public pre‑K time is free at the childcare," Feinberg said, explaining the co‑enrollment structure and the training the district will provide to day‑care staff to report attendance and enroll eligible children in the district’s Skyward system.
Under the agreement presented to the board, day cares that qualify under TEA rules would receive about 75% of the state per‑student reimbursement for eligible days, the district would retain roughly 15% to administer and meet compliance requirements, and the facilitator organization would retain 10% for coordination and training during the pilot. Feinberg characterized the first period as a "toe in the water" pilot running to the end of the current school year, with a plan to return to the board if the district wants to continue or expand the program.
Board members asked detailed questions about attendance tracking, eligibility (which includes low‑income, English learners, foster care, children of active military and children of district staff), whether 3‑year‑olds are included (they are, but with different daily public pre‑K hour rules), and how families and day cares will be informed. Feinberg said districts he has worked with use a simple digital attendance roster uploaded daily to the district office, where staff will enter the data into Skyward.
The board also discussed a potential conflict of interest after a trustee disclosed that a family member operates a daycare that meets accreditation requirements and therefore could be eligible for the program. District counsel and administration explained there are new, more restrictive conflict rules from the recent legislative session and that the district had reviewed the list of qualifying providers; administration noted potential liability for a business receiving district funds and said they had consulted the district attorney. The board then voted to approve the partnership 7–0.
The superintendent’s office will execute the pilot agreements with the named participating providers listed in the contract and bring any future extension or broader roll‑out back to the board for approval.
What happens next: administration and the facilitator will conduct required training, finalize attendance reporting procedures and begin a local outreach effort if the pilot proceeds immediately.
