One Two Punch: Full Day Kindergarten, Reform ESDs
Representative Mark Hass is a second term legislator representing parts of SW Portland and Beaverton.
If bestselling author Robert Fulgham attended Oregon schools today he’d have to give his blockbuster book a new title: Half of What I Know I Learned in Kindergarten.
That’s because Oregon currently provides only a half day kindergarten, which is actually 2.5 hours.
Here’s why this is important:
o New research conducted within the last 18 months has confirmed earlier studies that show children – even from difficult home situations – have a greater chance at academic success with full day kindergarten.
o Studies also show full day kindergarten to be an equalizer. Low income students in full day kindergarten are more likely to perform at equal – or even higher levels than students from affluent communities.
o The most significant finding in studies that compare half day to full day is that children learn to read sooner. Educators say if children can read proficiently before third grade, they are on the road to success. On the other hand, 75 percent of children struggling to read after third grade are likely to drop out.
High school dropouts are expensive. They end up in the welfare system and sometimes in the corrections system. Worse, a high school dropout is doomed to a life of difficulty in our technology driven society.
In Oregon, only private schools and a few public schools that receive federal money for low-income children offer full day kindergarten. There’s a reason for this. Educators understand the long-term cost benefit to developing these young minds.
There’s also a compelling financial argument for Oregon to extend kindergarten.
Taxpayers already spend more than $120 million a year for the current half-day program, about $5,300 per child. That includes fixed costs, such as administrators, janitors and electricity. These costs are the same whether kindergarten lasts for one hour or ten hours. By doubling the day to five hours, the cost increases by only 21 percent, or about $6,800.
That’s a smart business decision, the kind taxpayers demand from government these days.
Taxpayers are also demanding cuts in needless administration. And here comes the one-two punch: we can pay for extended-day kindergarten by slashing administration in an obscure part of our school system known as Educational Service Districts.
The intent of the 20 ESDs in Oregon is to form pool that enables small, rural schools to contract for services such as a speech pathologist. But ESDs also serve giant school districts such as Beaverton and Portland where the economies of scale for specialists already exists.
ESDs are redundant layers of government with highly-paid superintendents, car allowances and other costly perks. For the most part, their mission is unfocused. For example, the Multnomah ESD runs a printing plant to help generate revenue. When did we get into the printing business? In the Baker-Umatilla ESD, mismanagement and questionable spending of millions of dollars is the focus of an FBI investigation.
The potential savings through ESD reform will more than cover the cost of extending kindergarten to a five-hour day.
Robert Fulgham’s kindergarten lessons include playing fair and working together. We should follow these steps by giving our children access to a full day of kindergarten so they have a fair shot at academic success. And we should work together to eliminate costly duplication of ESDs.
Only then can we follow his most popular kindergarten lesson and …take a nap.
Posted on June 17, 2005
Mark Hass
Comments
(Note: Comments are the views of their authors, and no one else.)
Posted by: rrrino - June 18, 2005 03:53 PM
Me thinks we already have all day kindergarten at a cost of $1280/mo---$91 per diem.
Sine di can't come quick enough so we little folks can relax
Posted by: kindergarten advocate - June 18, 2005 07:49 PM
As someone who campaigned all those years ago for Oregon to require public school kindergarten after moving here from a state which took half day kindergarten for granted, I want to thank Mark Hass for his proposal.
His talk of ESD mismanagement is far overdue.
And this piece has more sense than Sen. George trying to get Democratic votes for the Speaker's "half the personal income income taxes" plan by adding all sorts of other things to a different bill.
Posted by: Pat Ryan - June 21, 2005 02:24 PM
Rep Haas,
I was never afforded the opportunity of kindergarten as it was expensive and optional when I was growing up in the '50s. Nonetheless, I'm very supportive of your efforts. My parents took it upon themselves to teach me to read prior to my entry into the first grade. With that advantage, I was able to remain in the top 10 percentile of my classes all of the way through high school despite the fact that our family changed school districts frequently. (For example I attended sixth grade in three different schools.)
ESD reform is also a good idea, but please work to hold harmless those ESDs that cover the rural and small school segments of the state. In those areas ESDs do serve a vital function, as you pointed out in your post.
Thanks,
Posted by: Tammi Peterson - July 18, 2007 08:42 AM
Hi, Mark--wow, I stumbled upon your site while searching for a class photo from my kindergarten class and I seem to recall you were in it! What a shock to see you're a Rep--I've lived in DC for 25 years and was very impressed to discover your accomplishments! I was Tammi Peterson, kindergarten class of 62-63; was Mrs. Streuchen your teacher at the Methodist Church? I am trying to get a class list and photos together for our 2010 reunion. (I was the blonde that sung "The Way We Were" at our graduation if you need a memory jolt as to who I am.) I agree, Kindergarten is tremendously important and think it's very cool what you're doing on behalf of our precious children. Thanks for your time and keep up the great work!