Best for a Southlake preschooler who can start inside Carroll ISD a year before kindergarten.

Preschool
Special Needs
Group classesIndoorSession-basedFall seasonWinter seasonSpring season
(817) 949-8523
mary.davis@southlakecarroll.edu
Operates out of 2400 N Carroll Ave, Southlake, TX 76092
Operates out of (Main)2400 N Carroll Ave, Southlake, TX 76092
Carroll Elementary1705 W Continental Ave, Southlake, TX 76092
Old Union Elementary1050 S Carroll Ave, Southlake, TX 76092
Rockenbaugh Elementary301 Byron Nelson Pkwy, Southlake, TX 76092
Walnut Grove Elementary2520 N White Chapel Blvd, Southlake, TX 76092
Thu · 7:30AM – 2:50PM
Monday7:30AM – 2:50PM
Tuesday7:30AM – 2:50PM
Wednesday7:30AM – 2:50PM
Thursday7:30AM – 2:50PM
Friday7:30AM – 2:50PM
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed
$8,670

$8,670

Tuition applies only to the spots that charge it. State-eligible four-year-olds attend free.

  • The yearly tuition rate is set by the Texas Education Agency, not the district, under TEC § 29.1531(b). The approved rate for the 2025–2026 school year is $8,670; the 2026–2027 rate was still pending TEA approval at the time of writing.
  • On accepting a tuition spot, families pay the first and last month's tuition up front, and that payment is non-refundable.
  • Tuition can be paid in full on acceptance or by equal monthly ACH withdrawals, divided evenly regardless of how many days school is in session that month.
  • Insufficient funds carry a $25 service charge; after two, automatic payments are terminated and payment moves to check or money order on the 1st.
  • Three-year-olds who meet the state eligibility criteria pay a supplemental (partial) tuition, because the state funds only a half day for that age.
  • Withdrawal requires formal notice 30 days before the next tuition payment.
  • Early Childhood Special Education services are provided at no cost to parents.
Carroll ISD's own prekindergarten runs as a full school day, 7:30 AM to 2:50 PM, on the district calendar — PreK is not compulsory, but once a child is enrolled attendance is. Classes are at four elementary campuses: Carroll, Old Union and Rockenbaugh take both 3-year-old and 4-year-old classes, and Walnut Grove takes a 4-year-old class only. A child must turn 3 or 4 on or before September 1 to apply. There are two routes in. Texas law requires the district to provide free prekindergarten to 4-year-olds who meet a state eligibility criterion, and the district also sells a limited number of tuition spots, allocated after employee children, state-eligible students and Early Childhood Special Education students are placed. Applications open each spring, are time-and-date stamped, and are worked first-come, first-served within a published priority order; once spots fill, applications go to a waitlist.

Schedule

Carroll ISD's own prekindergarten runs as a full school day, 7:30 AM to 2:50 PM, on the district calendar — PreK is not compulsory, but once a child is enrolled attendance is. Classes are at four elementary campuses: Carroll, Old Union and Rockenbaugh take both 3-year-old and 4-year-old classes, and Walnut Grove takes a 4-year-old class only. A child must turn 3 or 4 on or before September 1 to apply. There are two routes in. Texas law requires the district to provide free prekindergarten to 4-year-olds who meet a state eligibility criterion, and the district also sells a limited number of tuition spots, allocated after employee children, state-eligible students and Early Childhood Special Education students are placed. Applications open each spring, are time-and-date stamped, and are worked first-come, first-served within a published priority order; once spots fill, applications go to a waitlist.

Our take

Carroll ISD runs its own prekindergarten for children who are three or four by the first of September. It is a full school day on the district calendar, not a half-day preschool session, and it happens in classrooms at four elementary campuses. Carroll, Old Union and Rockenbaugh each take both ages; Walnut Grove takes a four-year-old class only. Teaching follows the Texas Education Agency's High-Quality Prekindergarten Guidelines, using the Frog Street curriculum at both ages, and the district says its teachers are certified in early childhood and work across the state's ten developmental domains, from social and emotional development through literacy, mathematics and fine arts.

There are two ways in, and they are not the same door. Texas law obliges the district to provide free prekindergarten to four-year-olds who meet one of the state's eligibility criteria, such as being economically disadvantaged, an emergent bilingual student, homeless, in or formerly in foster care, the child of an active duty service member, or the child of a Star of Texas Award recipient. Separately, the district sells a limited number of tuition spots, released only after employee children, state-eligible students and Early Childhood Special Education students have been placed. Applications open each spring and are timestamped, and once the spots go, the list becomes a waitlist.

Local Tips

Getting a place is more procedural than most preschool applications in town, and the details are where families come unstuck. A few things worth knowing:

  • The application is timestamped, and until an April cutoff the spots are handed out in a published priority order rather than purely first-come: employee children first, then Southlake residents, then CISD-zoned grandparent residents, then City of Southlake first responders and Peace Officer 1959 families, then open enrollment for Southlake residents zoned to Keller or Northwest ISD and Westlake residents. After that cutoff the order stops applying and it is first-come, first-served.
  • Three of those priority routes need a student transfer application submitted separately on the Enrollment Dashboard, not just the PreK form.
  • Residency documentation is required, and the district spells out the awkward case: if you are buying, building or leasing, enrollment is considered on relocation, evidenced by utility bills plus a deed or lease.
  • The three-year-old and four-year-old routes use different application forms, so check you are on the right one.
  • PreK is optional, but enrolling is not a soft commitment. Once your child is in, attendance is compulsory, and the district says so plainly.
  • If you think your child may need special education support, the Early Childhood Special Education route is separate and mandated from the third birthday whenever it falls, with services set by an ARD committee and provided at no cost. Child Find is the way in.
  • Families taking a tuition spot should read the payment terms before accepting. The first and last month go in up front, and neither is refundable.
Carroll ISD Connection

This is not a program connected to Carroll ISD — it is Carroll ISD, the year before kindergarten. The district runs it through its Special Programs department, staffs it with its own teachers certified in early childhood, holds it in classrooms at four of its elementary schools, and runs it on the same calendar as every other grade. The priority order says the rest: district employees' children come first, then Southlake residents, then families zoned to CISD through a grandparent. For a Southlake family the appeal is continuity. A child starts in the same building and the same system their older siblings are already in, on the state's High-Quality Prekindergarten framework rather than a private curriculum, and moves up into kindergarten without changing schools.

Credentials

Carroll ISD Prekindergarten is operated by the district's Special Programs department. Classes are taught by Carroll ISD teachers certified in early childhood, working to the Texas Education Agency's High-Quality Prekindergarten Guidelines, using Frog Street Pre-K for the four-year-old classes and Frog Street Threes for the three-year-old classes, alongside Heggerty phonics. Four-year-olds are assessed with a state-approved instrument at the beginning, middle and end of the year and receive report cards each nine weeks; three-year-olds receive report cards from the second nine weeks. Early Childhood Special Education services are determined for each child by an Admission, Review and Dismissal committee. The district's early childhood and ESL specialist handles prekindergarten inquiries and Child Find referrals.

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