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All-day kindergarten costly to implement for area schools

Some districts say the cost of starting is prohibitive

Staff photo by Nick Daggy

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 9:31 PM Sunday, September 5, 2010

All-day, every-day kindergarten is a key initiative in Gov. Ted Strickland’s evidence-based school funding model, but Butler County districts that didn’t already offer it were not able to meet the mandate to start doing so this fall.

Middletown City Schools has had all-day kindergarten for “a couple of years before the mandate,” said Superintendent Greg Rasmussen.

“Early childhood education is essential for a solid academic foundation,” he said. “Research shows that if we do not teach children to read by the end of third grade, their chance for success in school goes down significantly.

“All-day kindergarten helps us to jump start the learning, especially for those students who have not been exposed to rich vocabulary in their homes,” he said.

Hamilton City Schools has been offering all-day kindergarten since this year’s graduating class were kindergartners, according to spokeswoman Joni Copas, and New Miami Local Schools has had all-day kindergarten for the last 15 years, Superintendent Melissa Kircher said.

“The opinion was that we had a lot of kids who weren’t ready for school, so they used district funds to start all-day kindergarten,” she said.

Other districts, however, say the costs of implementing all-day kindergarten is prohibitive in this economy. The cost statewide is estimated to be $190 million and would fall to local school districts.

However, there are provisions for schools to apply for a waiver to delay such implementation. The Ohio Department of Education said 189 school districts received waivers this year and it will be possible to extend that waiver for the 2011-12 school year.

“The cost to Ross to implement all-day kindergarten is currently estimated at $360,000,” said Superintendent Greg Young of Ross Local Schools, which received a waiver. “Unless the state finds a way to replace the federal stimulus funds that will expire at the end of this school year, I am guessing that we will apply for the waiver next year.”

Edgewood City Schools, Lakota Local Schools and Fairfield City Schools also all sought a waiver.

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Margo Rutledge Kissell, Andy Sedlak, Lindsay Hilty and Kelsey Cano contributed to this report.

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