1. Home
  2. About TEA
  3. News and Multimedia
  4. To The Administrator Addressed Correspondence

Medicaid Free and Medicaid Reduced Benefits as Prekindergarten Eligibility Qualifiers

  Information Item

August 2, 2018

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED

Subject: Medicaid Free and Medicaid Reduced Benefits as Prekindergarten Eligibility Qualifiers

The following information should be shared with early childhood staff to ensure the appropriate prekindergarten guidance is applied.

One eligibility qualification for free prekindergarten is educationally disadvantaged status, which means a student is eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-price lunch program. A change in the national school lunch program will now allow age-eligible students who receive Medicaid Free or Medicaid Reduced benefits to be eligible for free prekindergarten by means of the same qualifier as students receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families services.

For help with state prekindergarten eligibility, contact:

For help with PEIMS coding, contact:

  • Regional Education Service Center PEIMS Champions

For help with the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook, contact:

If you have policy questions, please contact Howard Morrison in TEA’s Early Childhood Education Division at Howard.Morrison@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Porter, Director
Early Childhood Education Division

  Print