The Board of Education is considering a change to the proposal made for full-day kindergarten.
At the November meeting, Superintendent Mike Johnson suggested that the district charge parents to send their children to kindergarten for the full day instead of half a day, said kindergarten teacher Sonja Hutchinson, who was on the committee for full-day kindergarten.
The Board will decide in March whether to have fullday kindergarten and whether to charge or not, Hutchinson said.
Johnson said he made the proposal because it represented the middle view between those who wanted free full-day kindergarten and those who didn’t want full-day kindergarten at all.
“[This proposal] allows for a more honest debate,” Johnson said.
Johnson reached this conclusion after talking to Board members and other community members about the original proposal, which did not include fees.
Johnson proposed that parents pay $237 per month for full-day kindergarten, Hutchinson said.
The committee that made the original proposal for full-day kindergarten is against charging fees, Hutchinson said.
“We prefaced the whole [proposal] with ‘we’re moving forward without thinking about it being paid for by parents,’” she said.
Marlee Snowdon, a member of the committee for allday kindergarten, said that the Attorney General had issued a statement saying that requiring payment for full-day kindergarten would be illegal. Later, the House passed a bill that gives school districts the authority to charge parents for full-day kindergarten, Snowden said.
“Bexley citizens from all walks of life are objecting to the superintendent’s plan,” Snowden said.
A petition has been made by the committee and signed by over 200 parents to offer free full-day kindergarten, Snowdon said.
Johnson feels that there is a variety of opinions.
“I don’t think there’s consensus in the Board on that subject,” Johnson said.
Charging for full-day kindergarten would give the district more money, Hutchinson said. However, Hutchinson said she doesn’t feel that it is necessary to charge the parents.
“What I believe and what I have come to know is that the district is in good shape to make this happen,” Hutchinson said. “We do have the means.”
Hutchinson said that the money generated by charging parents would be more than implementing full-day kindergarten would actually cost.
Children in families with free or reduced lunch would be provided with free or reduced kindergarten fees, and there has been discussion about expanding the range of incomes that receive those benefits, Johnson said.
Hutchinson said that it is hard for her as a teacher to fit all the state requirements, which were written for a full-day curriculum, into the current half-day schedule.
“When you see the kids frustrated by the lack of time, your heart just aches for them,” she said.