Tom Ford Star Tribune Staff Writer

September 15, 2004 SKINDERGARTEN0915 in the Star Tribune

Jackie Maddaloni will pay $1,750 this year for her son Mark to be in all-day kindergarten at Savage's Harriet Bishop Elementary School.

Pam Jackson thinks all-day classes are unnecessary, and that her daughter Amanda would be better off spending more time at home rather than in class. Amanda is in the free, half-day kindergarten at Harriet Bishop.

The Savage parents represent opposite poles of a debate in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage public schools, which are offering all-day classes to families who are willing to pay.

The 304 families with children in the free, half-day program are outnumbered by the 540 who have chosen to pay to provide their children an extra three hours at school each day.

"That's really huge," said school board member Todd Johnson.

The numbers reflect the importance many families place on the extra class time, and the success of last year's kindergarten program, Johnson said.

At a cost of $500,000, the nearly 11,000-student district last year offered all-day classes to all its kindergartners for free.

It was thought to be the only large Twin Cities area district to provide all-day classes to all of its kindergartners. The smaller, 1,500-student Jordan district has had a free program since 1997.

Burnsville-area schools eliminated the free program this year as part of a $4.8-million cut.

Under state funding formulas that pay for kindergarten at about half the rate provided for older students, districts that want to offer all-day classes have to make up the difference.

In response, several districts have begun charging families for the extra class time.

Both Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and Farmington began pilot all-day programs this year.

Rosemount-area schools are charging $3,045 and have enrolled 132 all-day students. Farmington charges $2,610 and has 96.

Lakeville school officials are studying whether to offer any all-day classes and will report some of their initial findings to the school board this month.

Two views

Maddaloni, 38, wasn't thrilled about having to pay for her son to be in all-day kindergarten.

Yet she believed it was worth it after witnessing the progress her daughter, Gina, made last year in all-day classes, which she once regarded as little more than "glorified baby-sitting."

"I was amazed at what Gina did and learned," she said. "They were able to repeat things and stress things better." Her class also had time for art, music and physical education classes.

"I wanted to have Mark have the same benefit," Maddaloni said.

Doug Steele, principal of Eagan's Rahn Elementary School, oversaw the all-day program last year and said he was sad to see it scaled back this year.

Children seemed to gain more confidence in their abilities and build better relationships with classmates and adults, he said.

He's glad that many students still have that chance. But he worries about the educational differences created by not having all-day classes for every student.

While some families preferred half-day, others couldn't afford the all-day fee, he said, even when the fee is discounted to $1,000 or $500 based on income levels.

The inequity of a dual system is one of several reasons why Jackson, 41, opposes the district's program and enrolled Amanda, 5, in half-day classes.

Jackson's two older children, now in seventh and ninth grades, were in half-day classes and have done well, she said.

The shorter day allows Amanda to spend valuable time at home and will keep her from feeling pushed at such a young age, she said.

Jackson was against the district's decision to fund the all-day classes last year, arguing that they stripped away money needed to help older students.

Jackson fears that children will get tagged with all-day and half-day labels that some might use to explain their subsequent academic progress. And she criticizes the idea that public school families can now buy a supposed better education, she said.

"I think fundamentally that's not right."

Johnson likens the all-day fee to funds or volunteer work parents regularly contribute to their children's schools.

They do that to prop up and maintain programs when schools lack enough resources of their own, he said.

Given the level of interest families have shown in the all-day program, the more appropriate question should be to ask the Legislature to increase its kindergarten funding, he said.

"It's a financial issue the state needs to put its hands around," he said.

Tom Ford is at tford@startribune.com.

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