Full Day Kindergarten – An Educational or Economic Decision?

Extended and all day kindergarten remains on Trumbull’s Board of Education's agenda, and has support from First Selectman Tim Herbst.

But his opponent, Minority Leader and Democrat Mary Beth Thornton, has concerns.

"We can all agree that full-day kindergarten is a priority for our town. Can we fund it long term right now? What will the impact of funding full day kindergarten be on other K-12 programming?" Thornton asked in a recent statement.

Herbst said the program's funding is expected to come from lower enrollment, among other changes since last year. He cited 25 kindergarteners being held back as proof that that a day-long program was necessary to better prepare them for first grade.

Numerous other school districts in the state had all-day kindergarten as well, he added.

The board has not officially voted on all-day kindergarten. It formed a committee in late 2009 to “assess the feasibility of implementing a full/extended day kindergarten” that could be implemented by the 2012-13 school year.

The committee issued its report to the board in August 2010 recommending implementation. “Clearly, extended and full day kindergarten programs provide academic and social offerings that cannot be delivered in a half-day program," it concluded.

After discussion the board took no formal action, though the minutes of the meeting state that “it appeared the consensus of the Board is to move forward on this initiative.”

The committee also concluded that “all students benefit.” They viewed the longer program as “an investment in the child’s opportunity for making early gains in reading and language arts, math, science and social relationships.”

Assistant Supt. Gary Cialfi noted the advantages of full/extended kindergarten including increased learning opportunities, strengthened language development, increased gains in fundamentals of reading, writing, numeracy, and reduced need for special education and retentions.

It presents a greater opportunity for young students to learn such life skills as working in groups, sharing, collaborating, communicating and negotiating.

The committee wrote that a longer day is an opportunity to identify children earlier who will benefit from intervention – “prevention before intervention.” A growing portion of the schools’ population brings physical, emotional or social issues that, if identified and addressed early, enhance the child’s life – and the child's home life - make her a more engaged student and save the district costs as the child progresses through the system.

A longer program also affords specialists more time to intervene with borderline special education students and potentially develop equally effective but less costly curricula.

Also, it should reduce retention. Kindergarten is about social and emotional growth as much as academic. With a longer day teachers and specialists have a greater opportunity to intervene, help children adjust to school, and so remain with their age mates.

And a richer curriculum is being introduced to meet stiffening state standards, national mandates such as No Child Left Behind and the rising test score requirements for Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests, making more intensive and extensive exposure only a benefit.

In addition, the number of two income and single parent families is growing, so placing a child in a positive environment for a longer period reduces a source of stress for families.

Further, nearly 90 percent of Trumbull’s children are enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs, many with days longer than the current half day kindergarten, so adjusting may be easier.

Finally, site visits to full day kindergartens in Fairfield, Greenwich, Milford and Easton and discussions with teachers and administrators enabled committee members to observe directly the differences and benefits.

The Costs

Trumbull’s class size guideline for kindergarten is a maximum of 20 students. It began the new school year with 421 kindergarteners in 23 classes, with 11.5 Full Time Equivalents teachers in our six elementary schools.

Extending the school day, the committee reported, will require an additional 11.5 FTEs, a near doubling of classrooms and the outfitting of the new spaces.

The ongoing decline in elementary enrollment provides the required space. All that is needed is what Superintendent Ralph Iassogna called a “surgical redistricting,” moving some students to to balance student headcount with available teaching spaces.

Declining enrollment will also, for budget purposes, free up elementary teachers to absorb some of the costs of the requisite kindergarten teachers. The program will require 11.5 new teachers, an added cost of $805,000.

Assuming savings from the three teachers projected as redundant next year can be earmarked for this program, costs are reduced by $210,000 ($70,000 per teacher), leaving a net new cost of $595,000.

Lost, however, are the savings from the elimination of a projected 4.0 FTE teachers in the current budget. Budget exigencies absorbed potential savings of $280,000.

The committee included 23 half time paraprofessionals, one per classroom, at a cost of $198,000. They do not replace the eliminated computer aids, but will be exclusively kindergarten aids.

And furniture and fixtures no longer needed can be moved to the new kindergarten classrooms limiting costs to $48,000.

But the biggest savings will be the projected elimination of midday bus runs that now take morning students home and carry back afternoon students.

Together this is a total incremental cost of $841,000.

The committee projected an offset of $300,000 from eliminating the bus runs. The result is an incremental cost of $541,000 to implement extended and full day kindergarten.

So do the unquestioned educational benefits assure the start up of an extended/full day kindergarten in fall 2012? The superintendent will update the committee's numbers and include the program in his budget recommendation.

Thornton's Thoughts

Thornton said Herbst's proposed budget for the Board of Education this year:

"resulted in the elimination of freshman sports, loss of classes in World Languages, science, and computer paraprofessionals. It included a 50 percent decrease in teacher training and reductions in custodial services that affect not only the school operations, but activities that are conducted in our school buildings after hours.The Talented and Gifted Program is currently being funded by a Federal grant that expires at the end of this fiscal year, which signals the possible elimination of another program.

The First Selectman is quoted as saying the budget surplus this year would have funded two years of full-day kindergarten. This same surplus was ultimately applied to reinstate freshman sports and several other priorities that were underfunded. I expect that cumulative budget reductions from previous years coupled with rising costs will reduce any possible surplus in the coming year. The Board of Education cannot predict a surplus to fund these programs, nor should they be expected to do so.

The school district supports the implementation of full-day kindergarten, if the budget allows it and the space is available. We can all agree that full-day kindergarten is a priority for our town if we can fund it long term, not as an incidental expense that is funded with a budget surplus. I believe that full day kindergarten must be a program that is sustainable as a permanent part of the budget, with dedicated physical space."

 She also blasted redistricting.

"Reconfiguring schools means redrawing district lines. It means reassigning individual students to different schools than they had been attending. It means dramatically altering family routines and school relationships. Redistricting is something that should be undertaken only after exhaustive review and only out of necessity. It should not be hitched onto the back of a full-day kindergarten discussion like an afterthought."

On Friday, Herbst said her statement showed a "lukewarm commitment" to full-day kindergarten. He added that it costs $296,000 a year, less than one percent of the school board's budget. The board posted a surplus again this year, he noted.

He feared that it might not be implemented, depending on who is elected to the Board of Education in November.

The town is lagging behind other communities, some of the which have had it for 20 years now.

But parents will also have the option to send their children for half a day, Herbst said.