Batavia school board revisits offering full-day kindergarten
The Batavia school board decided Tuesday it is willing to re-examine offering full-day kindergarten again in response to interest from residents.
But it was a lukewarm decision, as an assistant superintendent told them there isn't proven academic merit for it, and it would likely be costly.
The money might be better spent on creating preschool for all children, according to Brad Newkirk, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. He said research seems to indicate it results in long-term academic gain, compared to all-day kindergarten. (The district offers preschool and early-childhood programs for special-education student and others who are at risk of having low academic performance.)
A review of studies comparing results of full-day kindergarten to half-day kindergarten indicated that any differences in performance between the two groups of students evens out by the time the children are in third grade, according to Newkirk. “It makes a difference for kids in kindergarten, but those results diminish over time,” Newkirk said.
“I just think (full-day kindergarten) is a very expensive program now to even consider. This is not the best time to be looking at it,” board member Tina Bleakley said, although she also said she favors all-day kindergarten.
“With everything else balancing financially and the data, I don't think it is a good direction for us right now. Sometimes you just have to say ‘no,'” board member John Dryden said.
Batavia started free full-day kindergarten in 2001. It dropped it in 2010, as it lost state funding that helped pay for it.
Batavia kept a free full-day program for children at academic risk. For the rest, it offered optional, fee-based “enrichment.” The $250-a-month fee was reduced or waived for low-income students.
In 2012 it stopped offering enrichment. Instead, the Batavia Park District conducts a program that meets in each elementary school. Parents pay $2,900 a year to the park district for that program.
Newkirk will present a rough mock-up of what full-day kindergarten could cost, how it would fit in to school buildings and what additional staff it could require in an updated report after Jan. 1. He will also present more information about instituting preschool. Several board members suggested finding out how many Batavia current kindergartners attended any preschool.
State law requires districts to offer a half-day kindergarten, even if a district wants to do full-day. In the past, parents of half-day students questioned whether their children would receive exactly the same instruction the full-day students receive.
The Geneva school district instituted full-day kindergarten last fall. St. Charles and Kaneland offer fee-based kindergarten enrichment.