Frequently Asked Questions (RISD Employees)

In order to be considered in the initial annual prioritized lottery system, an application must be submitted by the date shared in the district communication.

The three considered priorities include:

1. The parent of the applicant is an employee at the requested campus (highest priority).
2. Siblings of the applicant are currently enrolled at the requested school
3. The parent of the applicant resides within the requested school’s attendance boundary.

The choices of employees meeting the above criteria are given priority if demand for seats at a specific campus exceeds available seats. Priority 1 is considered the highest priority and those applicants are seated first to fill available seats at a school. Priorities 2 and 3 are considered equal and those applicants are seated after priority 1 applicants and before applicants that do not meet a priority criteria.

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 unable to speak or comprehend the English language
• 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

Students who do not meet eligibility to attend Pre-K for free, can attend any Pre-K campus as a tuition student if space is available.  (All Pre-K 3 seats are awarded via a lottery.)

$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.

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.

• if you live in the RISD attendance boundaries and your qualifies for free pre-k then yes the child can remain enrolled.
• if you live in the RISD attendance boundaries and you pay tuition for a PK 4 seat, you will need to switch from Employee tuition to Community tuition.
• if you live in the RISD attendance boundaries and you pay tuition for a PK 3 seat, your child will have to be withdrawn because RISD does not have a community tuition program for PK 3 children.
• if you do not live in the RISD attendance boundaries, your child will have to be withdrawn.