Full-day kindergarten vote expected soon in District 41

The Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 school board is expected to decide Feb. 23 if it wants a full-day kindergarten program implemented in the district.

District administrators are recommending that the board approve a full-day kindergarten program contingent upon approval of a facilities plan and funding for the program.

There are three facility options on the table to support full-day kindergarten: building a new K-5 elementary school, constructing an early learning center or modifying the existing elementary schools.

If the board votes to bring full-day kindergarten to the district, a decision on facilities will come later.

"If the board doesn't support full-day kindergarten, why continue going down this path," Superintendent Paul Gordon said. "So we needed to have this first and then the next piece is around which facility does the board wish to choose to move forward."

The earliest the full-day program could be offered in the district is in 2018, according to board documents.

According to estimates provided by the district, modifying the existing schools would cost roughly $14.9 million to $16.5 million. Building a new K-5 school would cost $26.9 million to $29.2 million, and constructing an early learning center would cost $21.7 million to $23.6 million.

District officials have said a referendum would be necessary to fund any of the projects.

The district is already underway with a roughly $15 million project to bring new classrooms to each of its elementary schools and reduce its use of portable classrooms.

On Monday, Board Member Patrick Escalante said he wanted the district administrators' recommendation that the board approve full-day kindergarten contingent on the removal of portable classrooms at Hadley Junior High School.

"I still want to get rid of all the Hadley portables and that has to be part of the recommendation, referendum conversation that we're going to have," Escalante said.

Gordon and other board members agreed.

The board is also expected to decide Feb. 23 if it wants a second set of four more classroom added at Churchill. The maximum cost for adding these classrooms would be about $3.4 million.