Register your child for FREE Pre-K!
- Complete RISD’s online enrollment process.
- Student Enrollment
- Pre-K Application
- Then visit or contact your neighborhood elementary campus to schedule an appointment at the RISD Newcomer Center to determine your child’s Pre-K eligibility.
Eligibility*
Child must be 3 or 4 on or before September 1, 2022, and meet one of the following criteria:
- Child is an English Learner (EL)
- Family meets free/reduced lunch income eligibility guidelines
- Family meets criteria of “homeless”
- Child is an active duty military dependent
- Child of a member of the armed forces, injured or killed while on active duty
- Child of a person eligible for the STAR of Texas Award
- Child is or has been in Foster Care
What you need for enrollment?
- Original birth certificate or passport, residency card, etc.
- Proof of income (current pay stub, food stamp letter, etc.)
- Proof of residency (current electricity, water or gas bill or current apartment lease with parent’s name)
- Child’s current immunization record
- Guardianship and/or residency affidavit from RISD student services (if applicable)
- Military documents (if applicable)
- Foster care documents (if applicable)
- Star of Texas Award certificate (if applicable)
*RISD is diligently working towards achieving our goal of providing Pre-K to all RISD families! Limited seats available for 3 year olds.
Why Pre-K?
High-quality Pre-K is a proven intervention to achieve educational equity
Short-Term Impact
- Vocabulary, literacy and numeracy
- Kindergarten and first grade school readiness
- Standardized test scores in EL, MS and HS
- Attendance in middle and high school
- Special education placements and grade retention
- Racial achievement gaps
Long-Term Impact
- Likelihood of completing high school
- Likelihood of enrolling in college
- Likelihood of employment
- Achieve 25% more lifetime earnings
- Likelihood of relying on public assistance
- Likelihood of incarceration
- Likelihood of requiring special education services
Programs & Campuses
Programs are all full day
- ECSE for 3 year and 4 year old students
- Free Pre-K for qualifying 3 year old students (limited seats)
- Free Pre-K for qualifying 4 year old students
- Tuition-Based Pre-K for 3 and 4 year olds of RISD Employees
- Tuition-Based Pre-K 4 for RISD Community*
- Child Care Group Head Start program for 3 and 4 year olds
*Students must live in the RISD attendance area and seats will be awarded at the end of May based on available space. We do not currently have a tuition-based option for the RISD Community for Pre-K 3.
Campuses with Pre-K
- Aikin Elementary
- Audelia Creek Elementary
- Big Springs Elementary
- Bowie Elementary*
- Canyon Creek Elementary**
- Carolyn G. Bukhair Elementary
- Dartmouth Elementary
- Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School*
- Dover Elementary
- Forest Lane Academy
- Forestridge Elementary
- Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet*
- Jess Harben Elementary*
- Lake Highlands Elementary
- Mark Twain Elementary
- Northlake Elementary
- Northrich Elementary
- O. Henry Elementary
- Richardson Heights Elementary
- Richardson Terrace Elementary
- Richland Elementary
- Skyview Pre-Kindergarten School*
- Spring Creek Elementary
- Spring Valley Elementary
- Stults Road Elementary
- Thurgood Marshall Elementary
- Wallace Elementary
- White Rock Elementary
- Yale Elementary
**Limited to RISD Employees only.
If an RISD student qualifies for 4 year old Pre-Kindergarten, he/she can be assigned to one of these schools.
If your neighborhood elementary campus does not offer Pre-K, RISD will provide daily transportation (not available for tuition students) from your neighborhood campus to your assigned Pre-K campus.
- Aikin Elementary
- Audelia Creek Elementary
- Big Springs Elementary
- Bowie Elementary
- Canyon Creek Elementary
- Dartmouth Elementary
- Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School (Limited seats available for 3-year-olds)
- Dover Elementary
- Forest Lane Academy
- Forestridge Elementary
- Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet
- Jess Harben Elementary
- Lake Highlands Elementary
- Mark Twain Elementary
- Northlake Elementary
- Northrich Elementary
- O. Henry Elementary
- Richardson Heights Elementary
- Richardson Terrace Elementary
- Richland Elementary
- Skyview Pre-Kindergarten School
- Spring Creek Elementary
- Spring Valley Elementary
- Stults Road Elementary
- Thurgood Marshall Elementary
- Wallace Elementary
- White Rock Elementary
Frequently Asked Questions
Child must be 3 or 4 years old on or before September 1, 2021 and meet one of the following eligibility criteria:
- Child is an English Learner (EL)
- Family meets free/reduced lunch income eligibility guidelines
- Family meets criteria of “homeless”
- Child is an active duty military dependent
- Child of a member of the armed forces, injured or killed while on active duty
- Child of a person eligible for the STAR of Texas Award
- Child is or has been in foster care
Yes, before- and after-school care is available, however seats are limited. Please contact the xPlore! office for more information.
If your neighborhood elementary campus does not offer Pre-K, RISD will provide daily transportation from your neighborhood campus to your assigned Pre-K campus.
No, in order for a child to be enrolled in our 3 year old program the child must be 3 years old on or before Sept. 1st of the enrolling school year.
No, in order for a child to be enrolled in our 4 year old program the child must be 4 years old on or before Sept. 1st of the enrolling school year. However, your child may be eligible for the 3 year old Pre-K program. Please contact your nearest elementary school to begin that process.
Yes, but the specifics may vary according to each full-day campus.
Yes, you will need to complete an inter-district transfer request if you live outside of the district to complete enrollment.
Students are initially identified as an English Learner (EL) via the Home Language Survey (HLS) which is given to all students upon enrollment. If the HLS indicates that any language other than English is spoken at home, students are referred to the Newcomer Center for language evaluation and program recommendation. If the child does not score ‘fluent’ then they are then considered an English Learner (EL) and qualify for free Pre-K.
A student is eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-price lunch program. Visit the Texas guidelines for more information.
Here is a list of acceptable forms of income documentation:
Please review the Acceptable Pre-K Documentation for Proof of Income to determine which forms of documentation are and are not acceptable. Household income documentation should reflect any gross income received on a recurring basis for each individual in the household receiving income.
- Current paycheck stub
- Current pay envelope
- Letter from employer stating gross wages paid and how often they are paid
- Click here for a letter you can print and provide to your employer
- Unemployment, Worker’s Compensation or Disability payment stub
- Acceptable documentation for self-employment income, including:
- Business or farming documents, such as ledger books and/or self-issued paycheck stub
OR - Last year’s tax return
- Business or farming documents, such as ledger books and/or self-issued paycheck stub
- Acceptable documentation for cash income:
- A letter from the employer stating wages paid and frequency
- Click here for a letter you can print and provide to your employer
- A letter from the employer stating wages paid and frequency
- Current SNAP or TANF approval letter
- Lone Star Card account numbers are not acceptable SNAP case numbers on the application.
The proof of income document should contain:
- The name of the Pre-K student’s parent or guardian whose income is being reported
- Amount and the date the income was received
- A pay stub with no date is not sufficient
- Gross income amount is all money earned before any deductions
Pre-K for RISD Employees
Tuition-Based Pre-K
- Must follow steps in the Employee Pre-K Application (Tuition) document on the RISD Intranet site under Miscellaneous Forms.
- $150/month per child / 10 months
- Pre-K for employee 4-year-olds is offered at all 29 RISD Pre-K campuses.
- Pre-K for employee 3-year-olds is offered at 7 RISD Pre-K campuses.. There are a limited number of 3-year-old seats at each location.
- Class make-up: qualifying students and tuition-based students
Frequently Asked Questions (RISD Employees)
The three considered priorities include:
- The parent of the applicant is an employee at the requested campus (highest priority).
- Siblings of the applicant are currently enrolled at the requested school
- The parent of the applicant resides within the requested school’s attendance boundary.
A randomized lottery is used to determine seats at a campus within each level of priority if demand exceeds available seats among applicants with the same level of priority. Once seats at a school are determined for applicants whose parents meet the priority considerations, a randomized lottery will be used to determine remaining seats among all applicants whose parents do not meet any of the priority criteria.
Child must be 3 or 4 years old on or before September 1 of school year you are enrolling and meet one of the following eligibility criteria:
- Child is an English Learner (EL)
- Family meets free/reduced lunch income eligibility guidelines
- Family meets criteria of “homeless”
- Child is an active duty military dependent
- Child of a member of the armed forces, injured or killed while on active duty
- Child of a person eligible for the STAR of Texas Award
- Child is or has been in foster care
4-year-old Pre-K students can attend Aikin, Audelia Creek, Big Springs, Bowie, Canyon Creek, Carolyn G. Bukhair, Dobie, Dover, Dartmouth, Forest Lane, Forestridge, Hamilton Park, Jess Harben, Lake Highlands, Mark Twain, Northlake, Northrich, OHenry, Heights, Terrace, Richland, Skyview, Spring Creek, Spring Valley, Stults, Thurgood, Wallace, White Rock and Yale.
3-year-old Pre-K students can attend Bowie, Canyon Creek, Dobie, Hamilton Park, Jess Harben, Lake Highlands and Skyview. (Limited seats available)
$150/month per child for 10 months
If your neighborhood elementary campus does not offer Pre-K, RISD will provide daily transportation to your assigned Pre-K campus from your neighborhood campus. RISD will not provide transportation to employee students who reside outside of RISD boundaries.
Yes, but the specifics may vary according to each full-day campus.
No, only employees who receive a seat in an RISD Pre-K classroom will need to complete an inter-district transfer request if they live outside of the district to complete enrollment.
No, if the employee is no longer employed by RISD the child is not eligible to remain in the tuition based classroom.
Tuition-Based Pre-K for RISD Community
- Must live in the RISD attendance area
- Only available for Pre-K 4 program
- RISD is pleased to offer tiered levels of community tuition for families who do not qualify for free tuition (under state guidelines) beginning in the 22-23 school year.
- All Community tuition families are required to pay a $100 registration fee upon acceptance of the seat. This is a non-refundable fee and cannot be applied towards tuition.
- Complete the steps for online enrollment and the campus Student Data Specialist (SDS) will support parents with next steps. Please note that community tuition seats will be awarded on a first come first serve basis after qualifying steps. Community tuition seats are typically placed at the end of May.
- Parents/Guardians must complete the RISD Tuition Pre-K Enrollment Agreement when seat is awarded
- Qualifying seats are awarded first, therefore tuition seats will not be awarded until June
Contact Us
Family Services Center: Newcomer Center
Richardson, TX 75080
469-593-9100