State announces full-day kindergarten grants
Comet staff report

Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed announces that 263 school corporations and charter schools have applied to receive full-day kindergarten (FDK) grants for the 2007-08 school year.

Among those school corporations are Delphi Community, Carroll Consolidated, Rossville Consolidated, and Twin Lakes.

Dr. Reed said schools will each receive an estimated $665 per student for the full-day programs. Final amounts will be determined in October after the official enrollment count.

The funding amounts are determined by the number of schools that applied for the grants. Because state grant funding is not sufficient to serve all kindergarten students, a corporation/school may leverage the grants using general funds or voluntary parent fees to fully fund individual full-day programs.

Both Delphi and Carroll school corporations have announced that their full-day kindergarten programs for 2007-2008 will be free to parents except for the regular book rental/supplies fee.

Delphi Community School Corporation Superintendent Ralph Walker said preliminary full-day enrollment numbers provided by the state should be considerably higher than final results, which will increase the per-student reimbursement rate.

Walker said when reimbursable programs are offered, schools elevate enrollment figures to ensure they will be paid for each student. If original enrollment estimates are lower than actual enrollment, the schools are not reimbursed for the difference. He said he feels confident that final enrollment figures, which should be available in December, would be much lower due to those inflated estimates.

Walker said Delphi schools made room for 150 full-day kindergarten students. At this point, 110 have signed up for the program. Another 12 have registered for half-day, which will still be offered this fall.

He added more than half the schools that signed up to offer full-day kindergarten would probably not follow through this year due to lack of space.

"Schools elevate numbers to protect themselves," Walker stated. "These are the first numbers out. When they are finalized, we should see reimbursement figures increase considerably."

Carroll Superintendent John Sayers said there will be three full-day kindergarten classes offered at Carroll Elementary School. He said parents had the option of enrolling their children for half-day kindergarten. Of the 64 kindergarten students signed up, Sayers said only three or four will attend half a day.

Carroll's kindergarten book rental fee for the coming school year will be $61.40, which is an increase of $11 over last year's fee. Elementary principal Carolyn O'Connell said kindergarten fees have increased due to added supplies as well as the increase in reading books from the reading textbook adoption.

Carroll's three kindergarten teachers are Caren Johnson, Giselle Parrett, and Jacklyn Williams.

"Though we cannot be satisfied until kindergarten students across Indiana are afforded the opportunity to attend a quality full-day program, this year marks a bold step in that direction," Dr. Reed said.

In April, the Indiana General Assembly passed a state budget that included $92 million in funding - $75 million more than in previous years - for full-day programs over the biennium. The budget allows for $33.5 million for the 2007- 2008 school year and $58.5 million for 2008-2009.

School corporations and charter schools that did not apply for grants for the 2007- 2008 school year will still be eligible to apply for funding during the 2008-2009 school year.

Reed said effective FDK programs are widely recognized as one of the best ways to close the achievement gap by addressing learning problems early. Indiana schools that offer FDK programs point to student gains in academic achievement, social and emotional development, school readiness and attendance rates while noting reductions in costs associated with student retention, remediation and referrals to special education. Learn more online at www.doe.state.in.us/FDK.

More information about the full-day kindergarten grant is available at www.doe.state.in.us/primetime.