District 191 proposes full-day kindergarten for all
Full-day, everyday kindergarten would begin next fall in School District 191 under a proposal unveiled at Thursday’s School Board meeting.
The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district already offers full-day kindergarten for a fee, but the program is out of reach for a growing number of low-income children who would benefit the most, administrators say.
Forty-five percent of district kindergartners are enrolled in the full-day program. Only 43 percent of kindergartners who qualify for free or subsidized lunch are enrolled, according to Superintendent Randy Clegg.
The disparity between full-day and half-day kindergarten enrollment perpetuates and deepens “gaps in academic achievement that are not based on an individual child’s abilities but rather on the ability of their families to afford the tuition for full-day kindergarten,” Clegg wrote in a report to the board.
The estimated $1.5 million annual cost, mostly for hiring more teachers, would come from reallocating some of the district’s compensatory aid — state money linked to the number of low-income students.
The district’s compensatory aid has mushroomed in recent years even as its overall enrollment has continued to shrink.
Clegg asked the board to approve full-day kindergarten at its next meeting, on Jan. 19.
The district launched a full-day, everyday kindergarten program for the 2003-04 school year, but it was lost to budget cuts after one year.
An expanded story will appear later at sunthisweek.com.
— John Gessner
Can you say New Tax Levy for 2013! The continued madness for more spending and more problems will never end. Why do you think there is such a disparity in the numbers to begin with it’s simple middle and upper income families are leaving Burnsville and are not being replaced by other middle and upper income families. Burnsville has gotten quite a reputation both in the state and outside the state and its not a good one if you want to maintain a thriving city.
Tom, what you totally miss is that the 03-04 all-day kindergarten was funded by LOCAL taxes from a newly approved referendum levy. Not so this time. I trust you expressed your disapproval back then, when it could be demonstrated that you really WERE getting skinned tax-wise.
Why have you chosen to stay when middle and upper income families are, as you say, moving out?
Hey Tom M.: It is important to rid our community of these middle income folks to make room for more upper income folks that will pack our Burnsville Performing Arts Center so we can keep the annual operating losses under a million a year!