Debatable -- Should Racine Unified consider kindergarten for all 4-year-olds?

By Journal Times staff

Thursday, September 22, 2005 2:06 AM CDT

MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin schools would be able to recover 68 percent of their costs for 4-year-old kindergarten by the time the children graduate from high school, according to an economic impact study.

But creating a program for 4-year-olds would come with upfront costs for school districts that wouldn't be recouped for years - and would require tax increases or a referendum. While it may help children in the long run, it could hurt taxpayers in the short run.

Should Unified consider kindergarten for all 4-year-olds?

The economics, according the recent study, say it could be affordable.

"You're not spending a dollar, you're spending more like 32 cents," Clive Belfield, an economist at Queens College, in Flushing, N.Y., who co-authored the Wisconsin study with Dennis Winters, research director at NorthStar Economics Inc. in Madison said

Tuesday.

The report said preparing 4-year-olds for learning would result in savings from such things as a reduced need for special education, as well as increased job satisfaction from teachers, resulting in lower turnover and less of a need for substitute teachers.

The study, using cost estimates from the state Department of Public Instruction and savings projections from existing research, was sponsored by Pre-K Now, which supports universal pre-kindergarten programs, and the Trust for Early Education. Both are Washington, D.C.-based advocacy groups funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"It's much easier to educate children who are prepared," Belfield said.

However, the program would be expensive for school district like Racine Unified.

Along with teacher costs, Unified would also need to find space for the students, which would require new buildings or some other creative solution.

Plus, the district doesn't have full-day kindergarten for 5-year-olds, which would make a program for 4-year-olds premature.

Should Unified consider 4-year-old kindergarten? Post your opinions online at:

http://www.journaltimes.com

Opinions from JournalTimes.com readers:

"Four-year-olds are too young. This is just a way to get taxpayer-paid day care."

"I think it is good for the parents who want their kids to have a easier time in school. It helps kids ease their way in and to become sociable. My son has been in school since 3 and he loves it. And I believe in the long run it will

benefit him."

"Does the state put any value on children spending time with their families vs. being in an institutional setting as early as possible? No way I would sign my kids up for it ... they get them for 13 years as it is."

"Why is it assumed that Unified should do the educating? Maybe private schools could do it better. Also the researchers have an agenda, universal preschool education, so we should at least be a little suspicious of their findings."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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