ABC’S…EASY AS ONE BILLION DOLLARS

Greetings, I have been posting articles written by various friends lately. Heather was inspired by an issue regarding the school system, and I think you will feel her passion. So here she is.

ABC’S…EASY AS ONE BILLION DOLLARS
by: Heather Rhode

My husband and I started thinking about kindergarten for our daughter before we even conceived her. Yes we are planners! We thought about it during those early sleepless nights with her. I envisioned how I would drop her off with a hug and a kiss each morning and spend my day wondering about all of the fantastic new things she’s learning.

Now that Abigail is four, and is entering her second full year of pre-school, my husband and I have been looking very seriously into kindergarten and our options. My reaction has been very different from what I had imagined: I am not blissful or happy…I am annoyed.

I’m not perturbed with her or the school we are looking at enrolling her into, but rather the entire system. I had originally planned to enroll her in full-day classes. I feel that those children have all the benefits of extended learning designed to further their young minds both creatively and academically. Also since our particular school system requires that the child be 5 on or before October 1st to qualify for kindergarten in that specific year, Abbie will have to wait until next year to attend school. She will be nearly six years old when she is attending her first kindergarten class. I feel that a six year old should attend school full time. However the full day kindergarten classes in our school system charge a tuition of $300 per month. This is for the public school and charter schools alike.

Initially I thought that we could swing $300 per month. Things would be tight, sure, but we can manage. But then the recession hit and the financial fall-out ensued. Due to some changes in our real estate financing, we are struggling with justifying the extra cost incurred with full-day kindergarten, along with paying for our son’s preschool, along with the au pair that we will still need.



Our situation frustrates me. Why, in what is professed to be the public school system, are we paying for these services? In 2008, Jefferson County, the largest school district in Colorado, collected $670,507,400 in taxes for the schools. There are five other funds which together with the General Fund (property and other taxes) make up the school district’s annual budget of $959,134,000. That is almost one BILLION dollars. Where is this money going I ask you? Why am I paying $2,700 per year for kindergarten? What exactly do I get for my $2,700? I still have to pay for school supplies and snacks for the students in my daughter’s classroom. And don’t remind me of all of the fees we’ll be forced to pay as our children advance in the school system, specifically in high school.

I took a look at the 2009 Jefferson County Public Schools budget proposal and they do have a breakdown of where they spend their money, but it is so vague. They spent half a billion dollars in “direct instruction” in 2008 - little more than half of their annual budget. What exactly is included in “direct instruction?” Is that paying for teacher’s salaries, retirement funds, food for the students, supplies…what? It is certainly unclear to me and I scoured the 2009 budget proposal, but not once in the 100 + page document do they expound upon what is included in “direct instruction.” I feel that as a taxpayer and mother of a future Jefferson County student, I’m entitled to know that information.

Emphasis has been placed on preschool and there are fantastic programs such as the Colorado Preschool Program to supplement families who cannot afford it. There are no such programs for kindergarten in Jefferson County. A failed has left the district with more than $30 million they need to cut over the next three years and kindergarten is one of the casualties. I was actually one of the ones who voted against the mill levy as I feel that the county can and should do a better job with what they have. I know it’s a large school system with 158 schools (including the option, charter and laboratory schools), but one billion dollars is a lot of money to work with. Had the mill levy passed, I guarantee to you that I’d still be writing this blog complaining that I have to pay tuition for kindergarten. I’m certain they would have spent the additional mill levy dollars on something like “direct instruction.”

So, if preschool is important, how much more exponentially imperative is kindergarten? I was surprised to learn kindergarten is not even mandatory in the state of Colorado. My point is there are so many more measures and programs in place for preschool than kindergarten and that just seems backward to me.

Many teachers and parents attest there is a large gap in first grade between those who do full-day kindergarten vs. those who do not. Kindergarten is much different than the carefree days I spent in Mrs. Campbell’s classroom in the early 1980’s. Many children these days have already had two years of preschool. They’re already starting to write and read. They’re ready to learn.

Since we likely cannot afford $300 per month for full day kindergarten, my daughter will receive a mere 2.5 hours in the classroom a day for half day kindergarten, juxtaposed against her peers who will get 6 hours. Add in breaks or a recess and she will be lucky to spend 2 hours in the classroom. Now, I’m not a math wiz but exactly how this constitutes a “half day” is beyond me. This is less than most preschools where half-day ranges from 3 to 4 hours. Across the country, the majority of kindergartens are a minimum of 3 hours.

The Early Childhood Education Department at Jeffco claims the 2.5 hours was dictated by the school’s principal. The principal says it was Jeffco’s directive.

Either way, the result is the same: some children are losing out. Jeffco mom Larkin Harmon eloquently summed up this kindergarten gap by saying, “The sad truth is that it shouldn’t be called, ‘no child left behind,’ it really should be called, ‘no child gets ahead.’”

What is your opinion? Should more or less emphasis be placed on kindergarten? Should it be mandatory (mandatory does not mean requisite full-day) and what would that mean for state funding? Should all children in a school district be enrolled in either full or half day across the board? Do you feel that the school systems nationwide should be held more accountable in their budget practices?