OLYMPIA — Kindergarten will go all day and be free to parents this school year at all 13 elementary schools in the North Thurston Public Schools district, thanks to the Legislature’s last-minute boost in state funding.
That’s more than double the number of free full-day programs offered last year in South Sound’s largest school district.
“To find out as of July 1 that we needed to hire a bunch of teachers was quite an exciting thing,” said Bob Richards, director of school leadership for the nearly 14,000-student district.
So far, North Thurston has hired eight new kindergarten teachers, and officials say they’re bracing to hire more, depending on school enrollment. Wednesday was the first day of school for the majority of students in Thurston County’s public schools.
Because North Thurston decided not to offer half-time kindergarten programs at any of its schools, officials also had to scramble to free up classroom space and buy new furniture for the transition, Richards said.
The district received about $1.7 million in additional funding from the state to expand its free all-day kindergarten programs, said Teena Barnes, executive director of financial services for North Thurston Public Schools. Last year, six of its schools offered free all-day kindergarten, and the other seven had tuition-based full-time programs, as well as the traditional half-day programs.
“We decided it was worth it,” Richards said. “While it would be a ton of work in the short run, it would be well worth it for our students in the long run.”
Before adjourning in July, the Legislature approved additional funding to increase the number of students eligible for free all-day kindergarten funding from 43.75 percent, or 35,349 students, from last school year, to about 72 percent, or 58,833 students, for the 2015-16 school year, according to a the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“Setting students up with a solid foundation in kindergarten helps them as they move through school,” state superintendent Randy Dorn said in a news release. “State funding of full-day kindergarten is an important part of basic education.”
Schools with the highest percentage of low-income students were eligible to receive funding first. Six districts — Battle Ground, Blaine, Central Valley in the Spokane area, Mead, Mukilteo and Pullman — chose not to accept the additional funding because they lacked the classroom space it would require, according to OSPI.
Several districts in Thurston County — including Rochester, Yelm and Tenino — have offered free all-day kindergarten programs for quite a while, and didn’t feel the same squeeze as North Thurston.
The Tumwater School District is going to use the additional funding to offer free all-day kindergarten programs at four of its six elementary schools, district spokeswoman Kim Howard said.
The Olympia School District has been phasing in full-day kindergarten programs at its schools for several years. “That will make the transition easier for us,” district spokeswoman Rebecca Japhet said.
It is offering 22 full-time kindergarten programs this year, up from 19 last year, she said.
“The difference is that last year, seven of those classes were free, and 12 were parent-paid, and this year 16 will be free and six will be parent-paid,” Japhet said.
By accepting the state funding, school districts agree to offer a varied curriculum, reach out to preschools and day care centers in their areas, and participate in the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills.
The WaKIDS assessment helps schools gauge where kids are developmentally, said Durdaana Rinderknecht, assistant director of early learning for North Thurston.
Teachers will observe and record each child’s social emotional, physical, cognitive, language, literacy and mathematics skills, according to a fact sheet from OSPI.
“All kids come in with different experiences and different places where they function,” Rinderknecht said. “. That can be anywhere from 3-year-old level to 8-year-old level.”
All-day classes offer more time for deeper lessons, said Tina Ellis, a kindergarten teacher at Mountain View Elementary School in Lacey.
Ellis is excited that she’ll have time to offer more science lessons for her kindergartners. She said she also plans to set up learning stations — such as writing centers, discovery tables and art easels — that students can rotate through during a class period.
The main goal of all-day kindergarten is to give children fewer lecture-based lessons and more hands-on activities so they can learn through play, Ellis said.
“You couldn’t really do a lot of play in half-time kindergarten because of the time constraints,” she said. “They learn really from their peers and their learning becomes more meaningful when they’re engaged in play.”
All-day programs also give students a chance to participate in school lunch and have classes taught by specialists, such as PE, art, music and library. Those classes are usually skipped in half-time kindergarten programs, North Thurston director of school leadership Richards said.
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