Washington State has committed to funding universal full-day kindergarten over the next ten years, so why are so many school districts cutting their full-day kindergarten programs?
The Ferndale School District is just another in a steadily growing line of districts that are cutting full-day kindergarten or charging tuition for the program to cover budget shortfalls. Other districts across the state that have made this decision in recent months include Puyallup, Port Angeles, Dieringer, Eatonville, Hoquiam, and Montesano. The Port Angeles district even considered the – possibly illegal – option of eliminating half-day kindergarten but charging for full-day. The districts claim to be saving money by cutting these programs for just a few years, with the intention of adding them back as the economy rebounds. While Montesano adminstrators see ways that these cuts “both free up space…and save money,” (subscription required), they are blind to the effects of full-day kindergarten on other school programs.
In 2003, the Bremerton School District conducted a cost-benefit analysis comparing full-day and half-day kindergarten. Every group of 93 students saves $150,000 every year once they leave first grade. They estimate that the annual cost of full-day kindergarten is $200,000 more than half-day kindergarten. But, unlike the savings you get from cutting one year of full-day kindergarten, the investment in full-day kindergarten pays for itself every year. The total estimated savings for that same 93 students as they complete second through fifth grades is $400,000. And that’s just elementary school.
We don’t know how long this recession will last. We do know that, by cutting full-day kindergarten even just for one year, we are ensuring that school districts across Washington will continue to feel the effects of the recession for the next four years, and maybe over the next decade.
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