Districts on Edge Over Kindergarten Ruling
By Ignazio Messina, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Sep. 30–Even if it were free, Perrysburg mother Kathy Mefferd isn’t sure she would send her two sons to all-day kindergarten at Fort Meigs Elementary.
"I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I have seen what a great avenue full-day kindergarten can be for someone who is working and would have to pay day care anyway," Ms. Mefferd said after picking up the boys from their half-day kindergarten.
Eighty-two Perrysburg families do send their children for all-day kindergarten — paying $325 a month for an extra three or four hours of school time. The district’s other 209 kindergartners attend the free half-day program.
But charging any kind of tuition for kindergarten may soon stop in the state.
Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann earlier this month said public school districts cannot require parents of kindergartners to pay for all-day schooling.
If upheld, the decision could have a deep impact on budgets for school systems such as Perrysburg, which has one of the highest fees in the state.
About 70 percent of Ohio school districts offer all-day kindergarten. Some districts absorb the cost of such programs, but other districts, such as Perrysburg, Maumee, and Woodmore, charge a fee.
Perrysburg Superintendent Thomas Hosler said parents are concerned the district will drop the program if the district is not allowed to charge a fee.
"We are waiting to see what the next step will be, and whether it’s from the courts or legislatively, there needs to be some kind of direction given," Mr. Hosler said. "Certainly [Mr. Dann's] opinion is very important, but absent any of the other things I mentioned, we are waiting."
The state mandates half-day kindergarten programs and pays toward that cost.
Awaiting direction Some school officials have maintained this week that Mr. Dann’s decision is incorrect because even though the district may charge for a full day of kindergarten, attending half day is always free and parents could instead use that option.
"If the state says we have to stop, we will have to evaluate if we can afford to continue it," Mr. Hosler added. "We are very sensitive to the parents that are making the sacrifice and want to have that full day."
Other districts, though, have already acted in response to Mr. Dann’s recent decision.
The Huron City School District has suspended its tuition costs for its all-day, every-day kindergarten. Treasurer Mike Weis said the district no longer will collect $200 a month for each of its 40 kindergarten students, although it may not be able to refund the $15,000 in tuition it already has collected.
Mr. Weis said the district has asked for a clarification of a state law that prohibits school boards from approving expenditures that do not serve a public purpose.
"And who knows if [the state] will consider those refunds a public purpose?" Mr. Weis said.
A statewide trend Most Ohio school districts — 448 out of 613 — offer some form of all-day kindergarten to some or all of their students, Ohio Department of Education spokesman Karla Carruthers said.
Of those districts, 122 low-wealth districts, including Toledo Public and the state’s other urban systems, receive state funding to offer the all-day program.
There are 326 districts either charging tuition or absorbing the cost locally, Ms. Carruthers said.
"We shared [Mr.] Dann’s opinion with districts and advised them to share it with their legal counsel," she said. "We have not instructed districts not to charge, although I believe [Mr.] Dann’s office has."
She added: "Currently, we’re working with the legislature to allow districts who don’t get poverty-based assistance for all-day programs to charge tuition on a sliding income scale."
Ohio Department of Education officials have met with state Sen. Steve Stivers (R., Columbus) regarding a bill that would allow districts that don’t receive federal poverty-based funding for all-day kindergarten programs to charge tuition on a sliding scale, Ms. Carruthers said.
Local offerings In Lucas County, Anthony Wayne, Sylvania, and Ottawa Hills have half-day programs while Oregon, Springfield Local, Toledo, and Washington Local offer all-day kindergarten for free.
Maumee City Schools also has full-day kindergarten but charges $80 a month.
Toledo Public Schools Superintendent John Foley said the district began offering full-day kindergarten about a dozen years ago when the state started offering the funding.
"We can’t operate without those funds," Mr. Foley said. "Certainly we think it’s a plus for our kids and the other districts do too."
Anthony Wayne saves money by offering kindergarten all-day, every other day, Superintendent John Granger said.
"It’s only considered half-time equivalency," he said. "We used to have half day every day, and in an effort to cut costs, we went to all day every other day, so we don’t bus children at noon."
Springfield Local spokesman Kristina White said the district sees all-day kindergarten as "an investment in the success of our students."
Treasurer Bob Moellenberg said a levy approved about five years ago funds the full-day program, which cost about $183,000 when it was started.
Washington Local Schools, which includes parts of North and West Toledo, began offering free all-day kindergarten district-wide in September, 2002
"We have been offering this free the whole time because it was decided we wouldn’t do it unless we could offer it to everyone," district spokesman Wendy Farran said. "It was paid for out of the district fund until just last year as a matter of district priority and I do know that all-day kindergarten has been extremely popular."
The district became eligible last school year for poverty- based assistance funding because of a higher poverty index, said Jeffery Fouke. "Last year we received $1.5 million plus $540,000 for academic intervention," he said. "Without all-day, every-day, our cost would be about 40 percent less."
A matter of choice Woodmore Elementary School in Woodville gives parents the option of sending their kindergarten students through a half-day, every-day program for free, or through an all-day, every-day class for a $100 monthly fee.
Students who are involved in the free or reduced-price lunch program pay for the all-day program on a sliding fee scale, Principal Joe Wank said.
Fees help subsidize the program and go toward teachers’ salaries, supplies, and some internal construction that had to be done to get the program up and running.
The all-day program was implemented in February for a short trial period. This school year is the first that the full-day program will be offered all year.
Out of the 77 kindergarten students this year, just 17 are going to kindergarten for half the day. The remaining 60 students are split up into three all-day classes, Mr. Wank said.
Officials have wanted to lengthen the district’s kindergarten program for more than two years, having determined that the lack of such a program is one of the district’s weaknesses. The strategic plan adopted by the school board in July, 2006, called for an all-day kindergarten program to be established by 2008.
Mr. Wank said he was aware of the attorney general’s decision but said district officials are going to wait until they get some clear direction as to the action that they should take, if any.
"We’re just going to sit tight and do what we normally are doing until we get more direction," he said.
Blade staff writers Meghan Gilbert, Erika Ray, and Joe Vardon contributed to this report.
Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171.
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