District 54 may offer free, full-day kindergarten

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 administrators Thursday recommended offering a free, full-day kindergarten program at all 22 of its elementary schools beginning this August.

Though most school board members spoke in support of the proposal at Thursday's meeting, they won't vote on the proposal until their next meeting Jan. 22.

While District 54 would also continue to offer half-day kindergarten at all the schools as legally required, administrators expected that very few families would request it.

Associate Superintendent Nicholas Myers said that among area school districts that offer such a choice, only 2 to 5 percent of kids attend half-day kindergarten.

But because some of the districts surveyed either charge tuition for full-day kindergarten or don't offer it at every neighborhood school, District 54 could expect to see participation in half-day kindergarten at the lower end of that range, Myers said.

About 76 percent of Illinois school districts already offer some form of full-day kindergarten, he said.

Starting such a free program in District 54 would require a $4 million increase in costs for additional teachers, transportation, building renovations and materials.

But administrators said it was a sustainable increase justified by the stronger academic and social skills it would build in participants.

Apart from the district's own goal that all students be at grade level in reading and math by third grade, the revised Illinois State Learning Standards are intentionally designed to be implemented in a full-day kindergarten program, officials said.

The plan requires 37 more teachers, for an increased cost of $2.8 million. Five schools would require interior renovations to make space for the program, bringing a one-time cost of $470,000.

Board member Barbara Hengels expressed concern about students not yet ready for a full day of school, as well as whether pending financial decisions by the state could hurt District 54's ability to afford the program.

Administrators said struggling students would get one-on-one help, as well as be able to move to half-day classes. They considered drastic action by the state to be too unlikely to paralyze their planning.

School: Plan would require 37 more teachers