I don’t do it often, but sometimes it’s called for. I’m calling an “I told you so.” I do it not to toot my horn, but to demonstrate our Board of Education has made good decisions at the right time.
Today the Michigan Senate K-12 funding committee passed a School Aid Fund bill that differs pretty sharply from Governor Snyder’s:
- Instead of a $470 cut per pupil, it softens it to $340
- It supports transferring money from the School Aid Fund, which had been almost exclusively used for K-12 funding, to higher ed, but about $500M less than what Gov. Snyder had proposed.
- It aims to reduce $175M in state funding to K-12 schools that have long received the full per pupil amount for all kindergarten students, even though many (if not most) across the state only attend for half a day.
In Grosse Pointe we made this move a year ago. I had advocated first back in January 2010 in a post “It’s Time GPPSS Moved Forward with All Day Kindergarten.” You can reference it for all the reasons why I thought it made sense then – and they stand very true today.
This turned out to be a great news story. Enrollment increased sharply when we eliminated the indefensible fee that was charged for years. Parents clearly preferred this option and they weren’t taxed twice. We made an orderly transition while offering a better educational program.
In a recent meeting I had with Pourpard principal Penny Stocks, she could not contain her excitement at what she has seen her kindergartners learn this year, significantly better readers and writers will now transition into the first grade.
Consider the alternative many other districts will face as they now will hastily move to react to this likely change in statute. We will avoid that in Grosse Pointe due to having good vision and reacting accordingly. You could see this one coming – and here it is.
There’s cold comfort in seeing $175M cut hitting the schools, but just like this issue, in our district we’ve seen a lot of this coming. Never fun when it hits, but I believe we are well prepared.
2 responses to “Last year’s move to All Day Kindergarten proves prescient”
I can see the pros and cons to both full and half day kindergarten programs. I’m glad that Grosse Pointe made the move that was right for the district at a time that was right for the district.
However, I disagree with the insinuation that Grosse Pointe is somehow a leader in this movement. Many districts in the state of Michigan offer full day kindergarten and have for years. I also disagree with the notion that other districts will now need to “hastily move to react”. Districts have seen this change coming for years and likely have had numerous conversations on how and when this change will occur keeping in mind the best interest of their particular student/parent population.
Hello Christin,
I agree many do, but most don’t. Certainly Grosse Pointe Public Schools were not the first to go this route, but many districts like ours have not made this move.
The point I am making on the timing is that we began registering kindergarten students months ago. Any district that had not already put this program in place will have a difficult time reacting since so many students are already registered.
Brendan