House Bill No. 494 amends the Education Code to expand the eligibility criteria for children to enroll in free prekindergarten programs in public schools. The bill introduces a new category of eligibility, allowing children who are the children of full-time school district employees to enroll in these programs. This addition is marked as (8) is the child of a full-time employee of the school district.. Additionally, the bill modifies the existing eligibility criteria by removing the previous condition that a child remains eligible only if their parent is on active duty in the armed forces, now allowing continued eligibility if the parent leaves the armed forces or is no longer employed by the school district. The changes will take effect starting with the 2025-2026 school year, as specified in Section 2 of the bill. The bill also outlines the conditions under which it may take effect immediately, contingent upon receiving a two-thirds vote from all elected members of both houses of the legislature. If this immediate effect is not achieved, the bill will become effective on September 1, 2025.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: Education Code 29.153 (Education Code 29)