Grayslake District 46 officials study costs of providing all-day, no-fee kindergarten program
Grayslake Elementary District 46 board members have received estimates on how much it would cost to provide no-fee, all-day kindergarten classes as they continue to study the issue.
Superintendent Ellen Correll said the system already offers a popular full-day kindergarten program for a $3,600 tuition at Park School Campus in Round Lake, Prairieview School in Hainesville, and Woodview and Meadowview schools in Grayslake.
However, district resident Jamie Taylor has been leading a push for full-day kindergarten without tuition. In December, she presented the school board with about 200 signatures on a petition supporting the idea.
At a school board meeting Wednesday night, the elected members received detailed information about the possible costs of a tuition-free, all-day kindergarten program from Chief School Business Official Chris Bobek.
On the high end, District 46 would post a $621,600 deficit in the first year with a no-fee, daylong kindergarten program, according to a report complied by Bobek. That deficit would include the loss of $388,000 in tuition revenue and expenses of $244,427 to hire five-full time teachers and another $128,342 for five extra program assistants.
Bobek estimated a first-year deficit of $493,258 on the kindergarten operation if program assistants were not hired.
"We are a cash, financially strapped district," Bobek told the school board.
Correll said Thursday that a survey will be distributed to District 46 teachers and others to determine what academic programs should receive financial priority. She said full-day kindergarten without a fee remains a possibility.
"I don't know whether it'll happen next year," she added.
Bobek and Correll recommended against adding 30 minutes to the half-day kindergarten program, in part, because it would result in only a five-minute break between morning and afternoon classes. They also said teachers would not receive a lunch break or be able to plan.
Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50 board members in August agreed to launch full-day kindergarten in the 2015-16 academic year, with officials citing support for the program in a community survey. Woodland won't charge tuition for the all-day kindergarten.
About 76 percent of kindergarten students statewide are in class all day, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.