Cuts may mean districts drop all-day kindergarten

To look at Jeanette Dalrymple's class, you wouldn't think these kids are on the firing line. They're sounding out words like "sock" and "nod." They're writing long lines of lower- case O's.

They're smiling and singing, "This is my school family... Shake hands with a friend — boom, boom, boom!"

But they, like kindergartners everywhere, are at the center of a serious budget battle.

Local school officials, who are looking to cut as much as $25 million from next year's budget, say full-day kindergarten is an educational luxury they may soon be unable to afford.

"If something doesn't change... all-day kindergarten could be, unfortunately, one of those areas we couldn't afford to do," said John Allison, superintendent of Wichita schools.

Allison said the district has no plans to scrap full-day kindergarten next fall. But if cuts continue or get deeper and federal stimulus funds evaporate, the district would have to consider cutting full-day kindergarten — at some schools, at least — for the 2011-12 school year.

"It would be a step backwards," he said.

Full versus half

Over the past decade, an increasing number of Kansas school districts have opted for full-day kindergarten — usually 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. —over the traditional half-day. Advocates say it gives teachers more time to cover vital material and may boost test scores, especially for students who start school behind their peers.

But finding the money to keep kindergartners in school all day is proving a challenge.

State per-pupil funding supports only half-day programs. Districts with high numbers of poor or at-risk students underwrite full-day programs with money targeted at those students. Wichita spends $4.3 million a year to provide full-day kindergarten to all students.

More affluent suburban districts often ask local taxpayers or parents of kindergartners to make up the difference. Goddard, where Dalrymple teaches, provides full-day kindergarten only to students who, in pre-kindergarten academic screenings, are thought to need extra help.

"You definitely see a difference," said Dalrymple, who teaches both half- and full-day kindergarten. "A lot is expected of them at earlier ages, and ... just having that extra time to practice those skills means a lot."

At meetings around Wichita recently, parents and teachers have reviewed lists of programs and been asked to choose what's most important to them. On the elementary list: all-day kindergarten.

High expectations

Terri Anderson, who teaches kindergarten at Riverside Leadership Magnet Elementary, said a common perception of kindergarten as playtime is way off base.

By the end of kindergarten, her students are expected to read more than 50 one-syllable and common words by sight, put numbers in order, count money and identify simple fractions.

"The thought of going back to half-day with the standards we have now in kindergarten is a little scary," she said.

"With the full day, we have the gift of time. The ones who are behind can catch up a little bit. They're ready to move on to first grade."

As part of this week's lesson on plants, Anderson's students learned that plants need sun, soil and water to grow. They wrote simple sentences about gardens they would like to plant. They measured tree trunks and learned about the water cycle.

When she taught half-day kindergarten five years ago, lessons were "much more fast and furious," Anderson said. She taught math two days a week and reading two days, and fit science, social studies, art, music and physical education wherever she could.

"You can't pack everything into three hours," she said. Full-day kindergarten "was a relief for me, and I believe for the children, too."

Half-day supporters

But half-day programs have their proponents. Riverside was one of the last Wichita elementaries to drop half-day kindergarten because "some of our parents really liked that option," Anderson said.

Many parents in Goddard still prefer half-day kindergarten for their 5- and 6-year-olds, said Natalie Rust, principal at Amelia Earhart Elementary.

"We've got parents who think a half-day program is enough for their children," she said. "And if they're working with that child at home, they're going to be fine."

Fee-based programs

Andover launched a fee-based full-day kindergarten program last fall. Families who opted for the full-day program — about half the district's 300 kindergartners — pay $275 a month for the additional half day.

Students who meet federal guidelines for reduced-price meals pay half the fee; those who qualify for free meals can enroll at no cost.

Such fee-based programs likely wouldn't work for urban districts like Wichita, where about 70 percent of students come from low-income families, said Allison, the Wichita superintendent.

"I think that would be very tough to do," he said. "We are in a different situation... We're trying to close the gap that we know exists with our kids as they come to us."

Long-term benefits

Anderson, the Riverside teacher, pointed to a growing body of research that indicates that intensive, high-quality early childhood programs improve children's future and society as a whole. Some studies show that for every $1 spent on early learning, $7 is returned in the form of increased earning capacity, lower crime rates and savings on remedial education.

"We may gain money by cutting kindergarten back to half-day, but we'd lose in the end," she said.

Ideally, said Allison, Kansas would eventually fund full-day kindergarten statewide. But that is unlikely given current budget shortfalls, and in the end, "It all comes down to dollars and cents."

Allison said he hopes scaling back full-day kindergarten "is a discussion we never have to really have. But it's got to be part of the conversation."

This story was originally published March 13, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Cuts may mean districts drop all-day kindergarten."