For a Tarrant County family with a 3- or 4-year-old, two state programs can pay for a preschool seat, and they work very differently. One is the child care scholarship run by the local workforce board, which has a waitlist measured in years. The other is Texas Education Freedom Account pre-K, which pays the full $10,474 at an approved provider but only for children who meet a specific state criterion. Around Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, one of those criteria comes with a wrinkle that catches military families off guard.
The pre-K rule in one paragraph
For kindergarten through grade 12, any eligible Texas child can apply for TEFA. Pre-K is narrower. A child must be at least 3 and meet one of the same criteria Texas uses for free public pre-K: eligible for free or reduced-price lunch; limited English proficiency; homeless; the child of an active-duty member of the armed forces, including state military or reserve forces ordered to active duty; the child of a member injured or killed on active duty; in or formerly in foster care; the child of a Star of Texas Award recipient; or the child of a Texas public school classroom teacher. Meet one, and the child can receive $10,474 at an approved provider. Meet none, and the application won't be eligible.
Why NAS JRB Fort Worth is different
Most Texas military towns are built around active-duty installations, so the military criterion is simple: a parent on active duty qualifies, at any rank and any income. NAS JRB Fort Worth is a joint reserve base. It hosts reserve and Guard units from several services alongside active-duty personnel, and many of the families connected to it are reserve families whose service member drills part-time and works a civilian job.
The criterion covers reserve and Guard members only while they are ordered to active duty. A Navy reservist who drills one weekend a month and works full-time at an aerospace plant isn't on active duty for this purpose. That family's 4-year-old needs a different criterion, most often income eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch. If the service member is mobilized, the family should check whether the child qualifies during the period of active-duty orders, and document it.
Because there are no Department of Defense schools on the base and on-base family housing is limited, NAS JRB families are spread across many districts. White Settlement ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Castleberry ISD, Lake Worth ISD, Aledo ISD and Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD are among the 20 districts the base lists. Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD says it keeps a military family liaison at every campus and partners with the base. For zoning questions, the Navy School Liaison at 1525 Chenault Avenue, (817) 782-7376, is the base's point of contact with local schools. Our military families guide covers the funding side.
The child care waitlist
The other preschool program is the Texas Workforce Commission's child care scholarship, which pays part of the cost of a licensed provider while parents work, look for work or attend school. In Tarrant County it's run by Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, with scholarships delivered through Child Care Management Services, operated by the Fort Worth nonprofit Child Care Associates. When we checked in October 2026, the board estimated a 27-month wait and said it was pulling applications submitted in April 2024.
Parker, Johnson, Wise and Hood counties fall under a different board, Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas, which serves 14 counties around Dallas and Fort Worth and calls the benefit Child Care Scholarships. Its page listed a waitlist of up to 36 months.
A two-year wait means a family that applies when a child turns 2 may not be called until the child is nearly in kindergarten. That's why TEFA pre-K matters here. An eligible 4-year-old can get a fully funded seat through the state account far sooner.
Fort Worth funders are pushing pre-K into TEFA
Local philanthropy noticed the overlap early. In March, the Fort Worth-based Rainwater Charitable Foundation wrote that pre-K was the largest single grade in the TEFA applicant pool, and that moving eligible 3- and 4-year-olds into TEFA could free up child care scholarship slots. The foundation funded Child Care Associates to help Tarrant County families apply and to help private providers register, with goals of at least 1,000 pre-K applications from North Texas families and 400 providers signed up as TEFA vendors. The plan included notifying families on the scholarship waitlist in partnership with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County.
Statewide, the Comptroller's July 29 report counted 19,497 eligible pre-K applicants and 9,449 funded pre-K students, so about half of eligible pre-K applicants had accounts by then.
Which providers can take the money
A pre-K provider must be licensed child care in good standing and meet one quality marker: Texas Rising Star at 3 stars or higher, Texas School Ready, a pre-K partnership with a public school district, or recognized accreditation. In Tarrant County the two programs reinforce each other, because providers in the child care scholarship program must be Texas Rising Star certified or working toward it.
Our pre-K provider list includes every center and church preschool in the state finder across the five counties. About half are in Fort Worth and Arlington, with smaller clusters in North Richland Hills, Mansfield and Keller.
How to use both programs
- Get on the child care scholarship list now, even if your child is young. Your place in line depends on when you apply.
- When the 2027-28 TEFA window opens, apply for pre-K if your child meets a criterion. Note it clearly and attach proof, such as active-duty orders or income documents.
- Remember what TEFA won't pay. Before- and after-school care isn't an eligible expense. A child care scholarship can cover it once your name comes up.
- Plan for kindergarten. Kindergarten eligibility doesn't depend on the pre-K criteria, so a child can stay at the same school on the full award.
- If your child has an IEP, the pre-K award can include the district add-on. A Fort Worth ISD student in a mainstream setting totals $16,794 in 2026-27.
The rules for each program are on our TEFA pre-K page and our child care scholarship page. If you're not sure which criterion fits, the funding check will sort it out with an advisor.
Sources
- Texas Education Freedom Accounts: Families (eligibility and pre-K criteria)
- Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County: Child Care Programs
- Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas: Child Care for Parents
- Texas Education Freedom Accounts: What Families Need to Know (Rainwater Charitable Foundation, Mar 25, 2026)
- NAS JRB Fort Worth: Local Schools (Military OneSource)
- Military Families (Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD)