Survey on paying more for Kindergarten

Right now parents who have children in full-day kindergarten are charged $207 each month of the school year. With an estimated $35 million budget gap for next year, Seattle Public Schools wants to know what you think about raising that rate to $310.

Although SPS will continue to accept survey responses through Friday, those filled out by Wednesday at 3 p.m. will be reviewed by the School Board during their work session that evening.

From SPS:

The state of Washington funds only half-day kindergarten (there are a few exceptions to this for high poverty schools). For many years our district has added funding for a further half day to ensure there would be one full day kindergarten available in every school. Over the years schools added “pay for K” programs as more and more families wanted full day K for their children. For the 2010-11 school year, we implemented a standard $207 per month Pay for K program across the district. Students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch receive tuition waivers.

With the severe budget crisis, we are considering various options to balance the budget and one is related to Kindergarten services. We want your feedback about these options. Thank you.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HYTDGHZ

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

45 thoughts to “Survey on paying more for Kindergarten”

  1. Good god, these morons haven’t even figured out how to bill and send receipts for the $207. Will they be able to send a simple receipt for $310 or will it still be like throwing pennies in a well?

  2. what a bunch of cheapskates we have have in Washington!
    I can’t think of one other state where you have to pay to go to public school kindergarten.
    why not make all the grades pay then?

  3. I don’t even have kids yet, but coming from a low income area, I think this will only give the “rich” another leg up. Those who can’t afford early education will enter school already behind their peers. I’m sure this will change their outlook on their education and could put them at a disadvantage right from the starting block.

  4. $310 per month is excessive and similar to market rate for group day care for three hours per day, five days per week. This is ridiculous considering that the facilities are provided and paid for separately by taxpayers. $207 is at least justifiable as a reasonable charge for the service rendered.

  5. You don’t have to pay for Kindergarten, you have to pay for your kid to stay the extra half day making it full-day Kindergarten. All of the state-mandated programs happen in the morning and the kids do things like PE and art in the afternoon.
    I’ve got a kid going into Kindergarten in a couple of years and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about sending my 5-yr-old to school ALL DAY, but if I have to pay that much for art and PE, I’m definitely going to pass.

  6. I did read it.

    what’s your point?

    I think it’s ridiculous that things like art and p.e. are considered ‘extras’ and not paid for by the state. most other states do.

  7. I have had my two kids go through K at a local grade school. Yes, art and PE and music and spanish are in the latter part of the school day. But, on some days, the writing segment and additional time for reading/games and library time is also in that time. By mid-year, I’d say 99% of K kids are going full-day at their school. Mostly becasue the kids are a bit older and can handle the longer day, the teachers are encouraging the longer day for additional learning time, and the kids want to be there the whole day so they don’t feel like they are missing out on some of the activities.
    It’s sad that we have to pay to receive the benefits of having our kids in class all day. I wish it wasn’t that way. But it is the only year in your entire child’s public school education that you will need to pay for schooling (other than taxes, but we all pay for those).

  8. Unless I’m missing something, I think your math is off Mr. President. $207/15hr= ~$14/hr. $310/15hr= ~$21/hr. But even at the higher rate, this is still significantly less than we pay for preschool.

  9. Let me check.

    3 hrs a day x 5days = 15 hrs/week x 4 weeks = 60 hours/month

    $307 divided by $60 = $5.12

    I rounded it down to a simple $5 for those you didn’t listen in class and can’t manage complex numbers

  10. very true. In my modest defense, at preschool we work on a weekly rate, not a monthly one. I had read monthly, but continued to think on a weekly calculation rate.

  11. Sixteen states define full-day kindergarten in statute.
    • Nine states require school districts to offer full-day
    kindergarten programs.
    • Two states require children to attend full-day
    kindergarten.
    • Seven states provide school districts with a strong
    financial incentive to offer full-day kindergarten.
    • Nineteen states provide school districts with a
    financial disincentive to offer full-day kindergarten.

  12. $5.12 per hour X 27 kids in a class = $138.24 per hour for a teacher seeing as rent and utilities are already paid. Throw in all the early dismissal days, vacation time, Teacher inservice days and you’ve got a pretty sweet deal.

  13. Well sure, but it’s not like teachers are seeing that money. It is subsidizing the FRL kids who cannot pay, as well as likely funding some other district initiatives and perhaps even the MAP testing for K kids.

  14. Why do you think you should receive a voucher? Why do you even think your kid is entitled to a voucher? Often people think these vouchers should be used for religious schools. I am not using my tax dollars to send your kid to “church”. I believe we have a separation of church and state. Want to send your little snowflake to a religious school, I am fine with that, but do not even expect that the rest of society should pay for it.

  15. Parents want ‘subsidized daycare’!! If the parent would spend that much time each day with their child, it would be beneficial in more ways than a ‘baby sitter’ which education pays for! A half-day is enough for children of that tender age. Come on parents, BE PARENTS!!!

  16. No one is forcing parents to take this option. They also have the option of picking their kids up and not paying the extra money.

  17. I’m actually glad to hear feedback on how this all-day vs half-day kindergarten thing works and how people feel about it. Our son’s birthday is late-summer so we’re actually contemplating just holding him back a year and then doing the full-time kindergarten when he’s 6. I’ve got another year to figure this out, though, and talk to his current preschool teachers about this.
    I have heard from other parents too that important activities happen during the afternoon and that most parents come to the all-day conclusion, I just think it’s kind of unfortunate that as such, we’re all forced to pay for those services. You make an excellent point that it’s only the one year that we have to pay for, but I didn’t go to all day kindergarten and I turned out fine. My grandma was actually a public school kindergarten teacher for 30 years ending in the 90s and she was always able to fit in the required stuff in half a day.

  18. Guest, are you for real? At 5 almost 6 my kid was beyond ready to attend Kindergarten, she could not wait to start and absolutely thrived (and is still thriving one year on). Full day K is hardly subsidized daycare, what a lot of rot.

  19. That is a huge price increase and is totally unfair to those that don’t quality for FRL. My first child attended K last year and my second will be starting in the fall. At our (local Ballard) elementary, it would be a big shame for children to miss the second half of the school day. Art, PE, choice time, activities and almost all of the special event “class parties” happen then. They miss out on social skills, enrichment and learning skills to help them become self managers. First grade is so much more “serious” than kindergarten, and I’m afraid that those half day kids + summer break will be seriously behind in the fall of their first grade year. Speaking from experience…

  20. Perhaps if you were more aware of the rather rigorous, perhaps over-rigorous, curriculum in Seattle’s Kindergarten you wouldn’t be making such a snide comment.

    Perhaps you’d like to spend some time volunteering at your local school to find out?

  21. Definitely consider waiting for your son. Boys, esp., may need to be a little older to handle the rigors of today’s K, with serious reading and math goals.

  22. Good god, don’t you realize that with all the budget cuts that are the result of the Tim Eyman’s of the world, they’re operating on duct tape and glue?

  23. Seriously, you’ve obviously never stepped inside one of the K classes, at least not in the ‘better’ north end schools. I can’t believe what my kid has learned in 5 months – MUCH more than any of us were learning in K… I’m not looking fwd to coming up with another $1000/year for my younger son when it’s his turn, but I’m plenty grateful for what my son/I’m getting for that $207…

  24. Kids who attend schools were at least 1/2 the kids receive free b’fast/lunch pay ZERO for all day K (even if their particular family could afford it…), so families in primarily low income areas are prob the least affected by this – it’s the in between/working poor who will be hurt the most…

  25. I think it really comes down to what you see as ‘required’ – there are so many things offered now that weren’t offered when we were kids; I just remember K as basically being preschool for 5 year olds. That just isn’t true… they are being taught so much more, and so much more in-depth – plus, there are so many ‘extras’ – art & music & dance & other languages… I was worried about my kid making that all day transition, and now, I genuinely feel bad when I have to take him out early. He loves school, and I couldn’t give him half the experiences they are…

  26. This is what happens when you listen to Tim Eyman and his fellow tea baggers. Meanwhile, his kids are sitting pretty in a private school, paid for by all the donations of anyone dumb enough to give him money…

  27. But you say nothing about whether any of those states allow districts to charge parents for it. Requiring it isn’t the same thing as prohibiting school districts from charging for it. It is not uncommon for governments to require something but not provide gov funding for it.

  28. Well, you seem to be good at lobbing grenades and running from specifics or solutions. Just what and when is/was your experience?

    My son is currently in K at Adams and we all love it. He’s getting a great education and when I think his teacher may not get “him” the way we do, I have a conference or email with her.

    If you really think the SPS K is just like daycare, then I really think you’ve got a skewed view of both.

    If you think that the increase in cost of K is a bad idea, then I suggest you work on getting a better state tax structure in place: lower sales tax, but a new income tax. That would provide better funding for schools.

    Complaining is easy, fixing is better.

  29. You don’t have to pay to go to kindergarten. You get a “free” 1/2 day in Seattle just like everywhere else in the state. You want a full day, you pay for it. What does art and PE have to do with full day kindergarten? Per Debbie below, this is just subsidized daycare.

    I can’t understand how you could read the article and think that the city charges for the same kindergarten that everyone in the state also provides. Why is the state a “cheapskate?” We can barely afford what we’re currently providing.

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