But it does not track full-day kindergarten programs nor is it required to oversee how schools implement them because the programs are considered optional for schools to provide. The state Department of Education keeps data on how many students attend half-day programs. It's hard to say how many Arizona schools currently offer full-day kindergarten programs and the number of students it reaches - even anecdotally. What schools offer free full-day K programs? Some districts in previous years have reported dips in kindergarten enrollment - and thus, per-pupil funding - when they weren't able to offer full-day kindergarten for free because parents took their kids to other districts and charter schools that did. Some schools have shuffled around money in their budgets to fund it.īeyond the academic benefits, schools have financial incentive to offer free full-day K programs because of the competitiveness spurred through Arizona's open-enrollment law. Many districts fund full-day programs through property-tax initiatives such as overrides. The funding and implementation of full-day programs are provided by district and charter schools through a patchwork of methods. How do schools currently fund full-day K? Parents would still have the option to choose under the proposed plan whether their kids attend a six-hour day, 2.5-hour day - or nothing at all. Reading, writing and math standards are included in Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards, which were adopted in 2010 and are more rigorous than what'd been in place. Janet Napolitano's initiative, which was eventually scrapped, essentially doubled the funding per kindergarten student to sustain all-day programs but did not declare it a grade or include any additional accountability provisions.Ī bill introduced in the 2015 legislative session would have required schools to offer free, full-day kindergarten but did not include any funding for schools to make it happen.Īrizona currently mandates schools offer 2.5 hours of state-funded kindergarten, which is widely referred to as half-day kindergarten. This proposal differs from previous kindergarten-related efforts. Making kindergarten a grade would also ensure schools are held to the same accountability standards in teaching kindergartners as they are fourth- or 10th-graders. View Gallery: Is full-day kindergarten important? Tolleson school district says yesĪn important provision of making kindergarten a grade, supporters say, is that it would protect it from ever losing state funding the way it did when the Arizona Legislature defunded a short-lived, full-day K program in 2010 following the recession. Here is what we know about the latest kindergarten effort: What is being proposed? Students of kindergarten age don't have to go to school if their parents don't want them to, and the state doesn't keep track of which schools currently offer full-day K and which don't. Kindergarten is not technically a required grade in Arizona, meaning the state does not fund or oversee it as it does other grades. They also say they’re encouraged by the mounting public support gathered at a September breakfast where Ducey spoke, and at a presentation at a recent state Board of Education meeting. It would cost an estimated $240 million to fully fund kindergarten if, by law, it became a full grade.Ī coalition of education, business and elected officials lobbying for the effort say it is more than worth the price tag and unlike what has been proposed in recent years. As do several state legislators - both Democrats and Republicans. Watch Video: Full-day kindergarten in ArizonaĪn effort to make kindergarten in Arizona an optional full-day grade at no cost to families has gathered a wave of public support in the past two months.
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