Moms Chat: All-Day Kindergarten, But Not at Any Cost

Would it surprise you that the United States lags behind the rest of the industrialized world in preschool and kindergarten education? The rest of the world seems to recognize that the first 5 years in a child’s life are critical in developing the skills necessary to become a life long learner. For most of the industrial nations, there is either free or subsidized education for all children ages 3-5 available eight hours a day.

Here in Fairfax County, a world-renown education system, early childhood education is not available equally throughout the county and is eons behind countries such as China, France, Japan, Germany, and many more.

In McLean, not one of our four elementary schools has full-day Kindergarten, even though the tax revenue collected in McLean outstrips many other areas in the county as well as the State. McLean Patch Moms speak out about their views of full day kindergarten coming to McLean. You can read Kathleen here and a different view from Jennifer here.

Kathleen Weil, McLean resident, married with three daughters and a sheltie.

Yes, let’s get all-day kindergarten, but not at any cost.

Del. Barbara Comstock’s legislation allows school districts to shift any portion of eligible FY 2012 Virginia Preschool Initiative funds towards implementing all-day kindergarten.  According to the Virginia Department of Education website, the Virginia Preschool Initiative distributes state funds to schools and community-based organizations to provide quality preschool programs for at-risk four-year olds unserved by Head Start.

The thought that taking funds away from these children is ok, even if “only for a year” is outrageous.  There is money in the budget that could be shifted from other places that wouldn’t hurt children living in poverty. 

The research on Early Care and Education is clear.  Several points from an Issues Brief (Schaefer & Cohen, 2000) illustrate how crucial these early years are, especially for disadvantaged children:

• Quality early care and education programs have proven  their effectiveness in improving the developmental outcomes of low-income and disadvantaged children.  These programs produce long-term as well as short-term gains both on measures of school achievement and success in young adulthood.
• Quality matters.  If improved outcomes for children are to be achieved, any program of early care and education must meet adequate standards of quality and must be provided with enough funding to do so without inflating the cost paid by parents.
• Quality is particularly important for children from low income families.  Disadvantaged children are harmed more by poor quality care and benefit more from high quality care than children from middle-and upper-income families.

If we take money away from programs receiving Virginia Preschool Initiative funds, there will be a detrimental effect on quality.  This is truly unconscionable.

My daughter is in kindergarten in a McLean public school.  Next year, my second daughter will be in this same McLean public school for kindergarten and then one more child after that.   Half-day kindergarten has actually worked well for us this year, but that is probably because of having younger children in preschool as well.   I think my daughter would definitely benefit from all-day kindergarten, but she is not suffering by not having it.  Her afternoons are filled with interesting academic, physical and social activities. 

In contrast, the children who benefit from the Virginia Preschool Initiative funds would suffer if money was shifted away from their programs. 

My kindergartener and I sat at the kitchen table a few nights ago, eating ice-cream (that had been in the freezer much too long).  I looked at her and thought about a fact I had recently read: that the most important brain development occurs before age 5.  She is six and I wondered if we had done all the right things for her so far. 

Did we miss anything we should have done for her so far?  Maybe. It doesn’t matter though. She lives in a stable, loving home and has access to a lot of resources that will be important as she grows.  I felt so sad thinking about a child living somewhere in Fairfax County, benefiting from the Virginia Preschool Initiative funds, having the rug pulled out from beneath her.  I don’t want that.  I’d rather stick with half-day kindergarten until another funding mechanism can be found.