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E-mail Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2011 > January > 19 > Entry
Ohio moves to scrap all-day kindergarten
Some of former Gov. Ted Strickland’s education reforms appear to be following him out the door.
State Rep. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, plans to introduce a bill that would scrap all-day kindergarten and the requirement that districts have smaller class sizes for kindergarten through third grade.
In just a few days, 30 Republican lawmakers in the 99-member House signed up to co-sponsor Gardner’s bill, a strong indicator of the bill’s support.
The all-day kindergarten requirement was pitched as a way to provide students with a solid foundation that would keep them from falling behind in the early grades. But it was a mandate without funds attached. Thirty area districts were granted a one-year waiver for this school year, giving administrators time to deal with cost and space issues before they are forced to comply.
Now they may not have to. Gardner hopes to pass the bill within six weeks to give districts lead time for preparing for the upcoming academic year. Schools are already registering kindergartners and planning for classroom space needs.
It’s still unclear how this could affect plans in the Northmont City Schools, where officials are considering placing a bond issue on the November ballot to help the district overcome its biggest barrier to offering all-day kindergarten: lack of space. Some of the funding would go toward a new early childhood development center.
Northmont Superintendent Sarah Zatik said the district still may opt to move ahead with those plans even if the state requirement goes away.
“The sad thing is, it’s good for kids,” she said. “From that standpoint, I think it’s a step backward.”
Cost is the main reason why more districts don’t do all-day kindergarten
Two weeks ago, the Centerville City Board of Education approved a resolution seeking a state waiver to delay implementing all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2011-12 year.
The district was among 189 school districts that sought waivers for this current school year after Centerville school officials determined it would cost at least $1.6 million annually to implement a full-day program for its 563 kindergarten students.
The district offers half-day kindergarten but also has an extended-day program for youngsters who have been identified as those would benefit most from it, Superintendent Tom Henderson said.
“It’s hard to argue that more school isn’t good for everybody,” Henderson said, “but with no funding behind it, it makes it difficult for school districts to implement.”
In Beavercreek City Schools, implementing all-day kindergarten would add $1.3 million to the district’s budget annually. “The intention is good for all-day, every-day kindergarten, but the fact remains the dollars and cents aren’t there to do it,” Beavercreek Superintendent Nicholas Verhoff said.
Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said the governor doesn’t support heavy-handed, unfunded mandates from Columbus and prefers to give local school districts the latitude to control how precious resources are deployed.
Removing mandates will be a way to relieve financial pressure from school districts, which will likely face further budget cuts once the state budget is set, said state Rep. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, who plans to introduce a bill that would eliminate all-day kindergarten.
Beginning in state fiscal year 2012, no district may charge a fee for providing all-day kindergarten, Ohio Department of Education spokesman Patrick Gallaway said Tuesday
“Districts that had a tuition-based, all-day kindergarten program in place during the state fiscal year 2009 were able to continue charging tuition only through state fiscal year 2011,”Gallaway wrote in an e-mail.
Gardner’s bill would allow districts to continue charging tuition as a mechanism for funding all-day kindergarten. Some districts, including Worthington near Columbus and Perrysburg near Toledo, were facing the prospect of canceling their tuition-based, all-day kindergarten and then asking the state for a waiver to not offer it in 2011-12 because of the cost.
“If legislators are opposed to this bill, then I think the fair question to ask is, where would you save money,” Gardner said. “It is not an absolute repeal of the evidence-based model. In fact, the funding distribution mechanism remains in place,” Gardner said. His bill also steers clear of any changes to teacher pensions, collective bargaining or calamity days, he noted.
In the Ohio Senate, there is interest in repealing the all-day kindergarten mandate and continuing to allow districts to charge tuition to cover all-day kindergarten but no bill to accomplish that is on the table, said state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro.
Most Miami Valley districts don’t offer all-day kindergarten. West Carrollton, Milton-Union and Yellow Springs school districts this school year joined a dozen others already offering all-day kindergarten, including Dayton Public, which has offered it for decades.
West Carrollton Superintendent Rusty Clifford said they have no plans to turn back to half-day after seeing the difference in their students’ vocabulary, reading and writing. “By the middle of February, our students in an all-day program are already at the place where our half-day students were at the end of the year.”
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: All-day kindergarten
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By Harry
January 24, 2011 9:34 PM | Link to this
It’s a shame we don’t have all day kindergarten, kids learn better if they can go all day. If the school district doesn’t have the money then eliminate a ball game. Republicans ruin everything.
By Maxwell Powers
January 22, 2011 4:30 PM | Link to this
Guess what’s next? Pre-school. If your school offers it, free-of-charge, you can likely forget about it. Despite tons of research showing that pre-school is essential to the long-term school success, it will fall victim to the budget ax, THIS YEAR.
By Susan R
January 21, 2011 1:46 PM | Link to this
I bet everyone here has seen “Anne of Green Gables” and yet no one stops to think how back-in-the-day they managed to have kids ready for college by the time they were 15 without billions of dollars, teachers unions, and preschool/kindergarten.
By kassfire
January 20, 2011 11:50 AM | Link to this
What a travesty. To know that a program is good for kids and not just refuse to provide it but TAKE IT AWAY? There’s plenty of money in Ohio but education is NOT a priority AT ALL. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
By scbeachbum
January 20, 2011 10:17 AM | Link to this
The teachers need better training,not the kids. There are teachers out there that can’t even name the states and their capitals and they are teaching out kids. We need mandatory supervision over the teachers we already have and better training for them so they can teach the students on a higher level. I really think an 8hr day for a 5 year old is asking too much. My grandson gets on the bus at 7am and gets home at 3:30. That is more time than some people put in at work these days with their fluctuating schedules. At first my grandson was excited about school and now he is exhausted by the time he gets home and has lost interest. Plus the fact that they go over the same things every day and he gets bored. Something needs to be done about the students that excel so they can move ahead and not be held back with the other kids just because of age.
By mymindisclear
January 20, 2011 8:36 AM | Link to this
If this is true…”The sad thing is, it’s good for kids,” she said. “From that standpoint, I think it’s a step backward.”….then why are they doing away with it. Are we so concerned about money now that we are willing to sacrifice our kids future? Ohio is going to hell in a hand basket! One person builds something nice and another tears it down because they don’t like it but for the wrong reasons. If you live in Ohio, this would be an idea time to move out!
By jay
January 20, 2011 5:37 AM | Link to this
Just another baby sitter that the taxpayer paid for.start at 6 yrs and LET teachers teach and not BE SOCIAL ENGINEERS.
By Maxwell Powers
January 19, 2011 9:39 PM | Link to this
Look for most of Stickland’s education plans to get scrapped. They were all sound — and might even have made a difference — but most of them weren’t funded (like adding days to the school year or mandatory daily gym or individualized learning plans for every kid in the state…) and there wasn’t a way to come up with the money. So, really this isn’t so much a repudiation of the previous administration as a reality check: there’s no money to implement the plan; there never was any money to implement it; and there likely never will be money to implement it.
By null
January 19, 2011 8:34 PM | Link to this
To Made it just fine, you sound like someone that went to a one room school house with a pot belly stove and a out house.
By old frt
January 19, 2011 8:23 PM | Link to this
this is a big step backward—working mothers need this support particularly in times like these
By Papagino
January 19, 2011 6:59 PM | Link to this
Better extend it to 12 hours. Get those little ones acclimatized to working hard to pay off the debt we’ve run up in the last 4 years.
By Thanks politicians
January 19, 2011 3:39 PM | Link to this
By eliminating all-day kindergarten, the politicians are effectively hurting the education system in the state of Ohio. We need a re-haul of education, not only at the state level, but at the federal level. Get rid of leaders who are in it for their own self-interest! Re-invest in our children and the schools that educate them. We are quickly becoming the dumbest country on Earth!
By Not the Answer
January 19, 2011 3:04 PM | Link to this
All day kindergarten is not the answer to our school problems. We need better quality education in the time the students already spend in school and we need good solid family support for the whole process. A big part of the learning process is the type of family environment where the students are raised.
By Big Girl Now
January 19, 2011 12:33 PM | Link to this
RE: �State Rep. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, plans to introduce a bill that would scrap all-day kindergarten and the requirement that districts have smaller class sizes for kindergarten through third grade. In just a few days, 30 Republican lawmakers in the 99-member House signed up to co-sponsor Gardner�s bill, a strong indicator of the bill�s support.� I would like to think that the lawmakers who have indicated a �strong support� to scrap this opportunity for children have some evidence or documentation that an all day program is not beneficial, or smaller class size is detrimental to student success, or that an unfunded mandate has caused such a financial woe to districts (or even greater than the amount district supplemental their sports programs) that relief was necessary, but I doubt that documentation exist. All day kindergarten, is beneficial not only to the child, but to the district itself. That is well documented. But I am fearful that is not the question Rep. Gardner is laying on the table. The real issue is to show allegiance to the new Governor and the �party�. The democratic governor put it in place and now the republican governor must scrap it. Rep. Gardner is in lock-step with what the new Governor wants and what the party in power can do. What a shame. I had truly hoped the election of 2010, would bring out the best of the best, but what we got is the same old stuff. Lawmakers have one voice/mind and that is currently John Kasich�s. If John said scrap education all together, our lawmakers would find reasons to justify and reasons to accept his proposal. It is business as usual; decision making based on party allegiance and follow the leader mentality, not on evidenced based research. Four years of undoing four years, what a sad thought for all of the residents of Ohio.
By Made it just fine
January 19, 2011 12:06 PM | Link to this
Didn’t even have kindergarten when I went to school. First grade at 6 and then on through all grades to graduation. Associate degree and Air Force retired.