Want Kindergarten? That'll be $500.

Has everybody heard about this? The Hays district is looking at charging parents $500 a year for all day kindergarten. Plus the other regular fees for school.

Crap. I can't afford that. Here I've been looking forward to one less kid in daycare.

It's still a heck of a lot cheaper than daycare. I'm not saying I agree with it, if it's true, I'm just sayin'... you know, it's cheaper.

I hadnt heard this. Where di you hear that?

Yeah, I know.

But if there are cuts to be made, why should just kindergarten parents pay for it?

It was in the paper. It hasn't been voted on yet...I think at the next board meeting.

I watched the board meeting on tv. Someone asked about going to paying for sports before cutting kindergarten. Kaufmann didn't like that idea at all.

I can't imagine it being passed. Too many people would be negatively affected by it. It's already expensive enough to enroll kids in school, today, with all the supplies that are required purchases. How do they think parents will be able to afford that kind of added cost?

Well, Mr. Kaufmann said on tv that he thinks most parents will pay it...

Of course, if it's required for your kid to go to school, how can you get out of it? That's a month's rent, or groceries, or a couple of utility bills. I don't know how they can justify it.

nosy wrote:

I watched the board meeting on tv. Someone asked about going to paying for sports before cutting kindergarten. Kaufmann didn't like that idea at all.

I'm not clear on what you mean. Are you saying someone suggested cutting back on sports to keep kindergarten?

Someone on the board mentioned pay-to-play, and looking at that before all-day Kindergarten was cut. Kaufmann said the board needed to put a committee together and "study" that before it happened.

But Kindergarten? Yeah, no studying necessary.

This was the ONLY suggested way to cut funds, so I'm worried it will pass.

That figures. The all important sports can't be infringed upon. So are they wanting to either charge or go back to half day Kindergarten, or just cut Kindergarten completely if parents won't pay?

If parents can pay, the kid can stay all day.

Otherwise, they are booted at lunchtime.

Nice way to help those kids' self-esteem. "Sorry, honey. You have to go home now, while your friends stay, because your Mommy can't afford for you to stay."

nosy wrote:

If parents can pay, the kid can stay all day.

Otherwise, they are booted at lunchtime.

Nice way to help those kids' self-esteem. "Sorry, honey. You have to go home now, while your friends stay, because your Mommy can't afford for you to stay."

Jesse Jackson says "IF you don't pay you must go away you can't stay all day"

nosy wrote:

If parents can pay, the kid can stay all day.

Otherwise, they are booted at lunchtime.

Nice way to help those kids' self-esteem. "Sorry, honey. You have to go home now, while your friends stay, because your Mommy can't afford for you to stay."

Hmmm. So Kindergarten will only be for families with plenty of cash like doctors, lawyers, and illegal immigrants on welfare?

FYI- Jamie... There are a couple of people wanting on here to follow this particular topic and can't because we can't have new members right now... Just wanted you to know.

Full day kindergarten is not required by the state. Its a luxury you've had... and I'm totally for it. The district I'm in now only has 1/2 day. I don't see this change happening- this year. But... they should have been looking at ways to trim the budget long before now. Sports is one way- not everyone needs to travel to away games. Energy usage in the buildings is another.

There were a couple of other "small" budget trimming ideas thrown out on the table from what I've read. One that affects everyone is decreasing sub usage. That means that you'll probably loose para educator subs for your special needs kids. If the para is gone, they won't bring someone in, meaning someone is missing IEP minutes. It also means that teacher's colleagues will be required to split kids out (making thier class sizes HUGE on those days). I can understand for some situations... but all day-- seems rediculous on many levels.

Ratzilla wrote:

nosy wrote:

I watched the board meeting on tv. Someone asked about going to paying for sports before cutting kindergarten. Kaufmann didn't like that idea at all.

I'm not clear on what you mean. Are you saying someone suggested cutting back on sports to keep kindergarten?

I'm very surprised that Hays doesn't charge admission for more sports. Every one of the girls' soccer road games that I attended this past spring - in Salina, McPherson, Garden City and at the Wichita North tournament - had an admission fee, but only the regional game in Hays required it. And that was a fee imposed by the KSHSAA, not Hays High. I'm a sports fanatic, but I'd be all in favor of increased and additional admission costs for parents/fans in lieu of an imposed fee on parents of kindergarteners.

I wouldnt pay 500.00 for my child to go to kdg all day.....daycare would be cheaper.........

The Other One wrote:

I'm very surprised that Hays doesn't charge admission for more sports. Every one of the girls' soccer road games that I attended this past spring - in Salina, McPherson, Garden City and at the Wichita North tournament - had an admission fee, but only the regional game in Hays required it. And that was a fee imposed by the KSHSAA, not Hays High. I'm a sports fanatic, but I'd be all in favor of increased and additional admission costs for parents/fans in lieu of an imposed fee on parents of kindergarteners.

While I see sports as a positive thing for kids, I don't see it important enough to favor it over schooling. I've paid to watch sporting events of my nieces and other kids I know, and I see nothing wrong with it if it saves a few tax dollars.

Back in the days when there wasn't much use of daycare because moms stayed home and kindergarten was only half a day it worked out. But now if alot of these kids are going from all day in daycare to a half day kindergarten it wouldn't make sense. And it makes no sense to only take full time kindergarten for those who could afford it.

If the state requires a kid to be in school there should be no extra fee for a particular grade.

Let's be honest here. The $500 fee amounts to an increased tax on a select group of people. It was wrong when Congress proposed to do that to AIG executives, and it would be wrong in this instance. And attendance at sporting events is completely voluntary. If you don't want to pay, don't go. Or sit in your car and watch from the parking lot. I know of people who did that to avoid the $4 gate at the regional soccer game.

If this is something you oppose you have the right to attend Board of education meetings.
You also have the right to express an opinion at those meetings. Let the board members know how you feel. Be polite but firm. Provide them with other options like admission fees.
I recommend that you stress facts over emotion. Take as many friends, family and other concerned parents as you can. The large the outcry the more likely they are to hear you.

Show up and make some political noise. Politely.

Justoo wrote:

I recommend that you stress facts over emotion.

Ellis County is dominated by Democrats. Screw the facts. Emotion should be the key.

registration is open again, for a short time.

I was looking forward to all-day kindergarten for my little girl. She really likes the social interaction. *sigh* She also needs the structure to keep her on task with stuff and that will also probably put her in a different class than most of her friends. But.... can't afford to pay for school for her, especially with the hubby doing his student teaching this fall, we're already on a shoestring since they don't recommend doing work-study or a second job with that. *bleh* Just more crappy news in a really crappy week.

Kindergarten isn't a required part of Kansas education/curriculum. It is an added benefit that USD 489 offers, just like sporting events. So, is it really unrealistic to require people to pay for this benefit? Same as preschool, it is not required and many people have to pay to send their kid to preschool also. This is just an extension of that. The biggest problem we are going to have is that as kids without preschool are already behind in Kindergarten compared to those that did. So when a kid who hasn't had either preschool or Kindergarten entering first grade will be even further behind. Then add in the fact that the teachers will have to spend more time with those kids...this will add to the No Child Left Behind problem that we already have.

Is this $500 per year or per semester? If there are 30 weeks of school (I'm too lazy to look it up right now) @ a cheap $50 per week for daycare (which is a stretch), which equals $1500, so the $500 is the cheaper option and reasonable. Now consider that there are probably over 300 kids in kindergarten @ the $500, that's an extra $150,000 for the school district.

I have no way to figure out how many people attend girls soccer events, but I'm thinking it would be hard pressed to get $150,000 (in fact at $4 a visit, these events, no just soccer, would have to bring in 37,500 visitors...I don't see that).

Kindergarten isn't required???I had no idea.You can just start out at 1st grade??

lilchefed wrote:

So, is it really unrealistic to require people to pay for this benefit?

Would it be unrealistic to require the school administration to account for all of the tax money that people put into the system that never seems to be enough? Perhaps Fred Kaufman could take a pay cut to help out, if only symbolically. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

They could save $30,000 a year if the unsubscribed from the weather alert system and just bookmarked NOAA.gov.

CelticDragon wrote:

They could save $30,000 a year if the unsubscribed from the weather alert system and just bookmarked NOAA.gov.

You can get weather alerts via SMS from The Weather Channel. Doesn't cost a penny.

Merrill Teller gives 'em out free too

We couldn't believe how much they paid for such a service. It only gets used 1-2 times a YEAR, too! Then for them to renew the subscription when there are SO many alternatives and money needs to be stretched as far as possible... unbelievable. Now, with them wanting us to pay for Kindergarten, when our taxes are supposed to be covering schooling... it's really irritating. I just figure if they're paying $30 grand for something they can get for free, they really aren't trying too hard to cut their budget.

I was suprised to see that SRS ans WIC office recently got flat screens in their offices....for what???

wilkykav2 wrote:

I was suprised to see that SRS ans WIC office recently got flat screens in their offices....for what???

So the illegal aliens can watch Univision while they wait in line for our tax money.

wilkykav2 wrote:

I was suprised to see that SRS ans WIC office recently got flat screens in their offices....for what???

You might want to make another thread for that. Those offices have nothing to do with the school district. However, that said, state and federal offices do periodic upgrades to newer equipment. LCD monitors are pretty low-cost these days, especially when you purchase large amounts rather than replacing individual components as they go out. Economically, it is much more efficient to replace all the monitors/computers in an office at one time, saving on the equipment and installation by a)buying in bulk, b) sending out one tech one time instead of multiple times.

CelticDragon wrote:

wilkykav2 wrote:

I was suprised to see that SRS ans WIC office recently got flat screens in their offices....for what???

You might want to make another thread for that. Those offices have nothing to do with the school district. However, that said, state and federal offices do periodic upgrades to newer equipment. LCD monitors are pretty low-cost these days, especially when you purchase large amounts rather than replacing individual components as they go out. Economically, it is much more efficient to replace all the monitors/computers in an office at one time, saving on the equipment and installation by a)buying in bulk, b) sending out one tech one time instead of multiple times.

Is she talking computer monitors or TVs?

Tv's mounted on the wall.

Even though my son won't be attending kindergarten for another 2yrs, if this is still the case, he will be definetly be attending another school district...this is totally outrageous & us single moms can not afford this

After checking into it I was told by the KDOE that the school district may charge for full day Kindergarten, but they are required to offer 1/2 day Kindergarten.

Essentially, if you can't afford your child to be in all day K, they will get half the education of the kids getting full day K. Yay.

I would hope there would be income requirements,and if you can't afford it you could get help.

This is going to be thought of in my household as an object lesson. Life sucks. That's the way it is, get over it. We will deal.

No child left behind. A few in the back of the pack but not left behind.

oh sure, lets just let the children that have parents that can't afford $500/yr 4 school, allow their children 2 have only 1/2 a day of education compared 2 a full day...seriously how is that fair at all

Who ever said it was fair? Money talks....it's always been that way.

The Other One wrote:

wilkykav2 wrote:

I was suprised to see that SRS ans WIC office recently got flat screens in their offices....for what???

So the illegal aliens can watch Univision while they wait in line for our tax money.

The Other One wrote:

Is she talking computer monitors or TVs?

wilkykav2 wrote:

Tv's mounted on the wall.

Yep. Univision.

Next School Board meeting is July 27th at 7 p.m., if anyone is interested.

What's different nowdays that you need all day kindergarten? As I recall I learned to count, say my ABC's, paint, listened to stories, played, and looked up girls dresses at naptime. Is kindergarten that much more complex, or is it just freebie sitters that this is about? I always thought it was wiser to limit the time in school first year to get them used to it, but then again when I was 5 most mothers either had cheap sitters (like grandma) or still took care of their own kids.

Nope Kindergarten is way more complex these days Ratz. I personally think they expect these kids to learn stuff at way too young an age these days.

My daughter has been in Pre-school for 2 years. She's already doing pre-reading work, understanding how letters go together, reading small words, etc. She's also getting into math and wanting to know how to tell time.

She's also a major people person. She LOVES going to school because she gets to interact with so many people. So, while it's fine for me to have her go a half day, I know that she would greatly prefer the full day just for the social aspects.

Girls tend to like school early on. They like to play teacher and imitate mommy. Boys (normal ones) prefer to run free in the outdoors at that age. At least it was that way back in my times. Society tends to want sissy boys nowdays.

That was really, really sexist.

She loves learning, she's a people person; those two things are not because she's a girl, it's her personality. At home, there is only Mom. At school, she gets to socialize. She's actually more comfortable with the boys at this point. She's more rough and tumble than most of the other girls in her class were. She also loves to visit the farm and ride on the combine or in the tractor.

There were actually boys in her class that were more advanced than she is. A few were better writers, some better at drawing, etc. I didn't see gender making much of a difference in her class.

What killed 1/2 day kindergarten is that there are more and more kids going to preschool, thus when they got to kindergarten, they were ready for the next step. My son is the same way, we got him in preschool at 3, and he is a January birthday, so he was in preschool for 2.5 years. Probably too early, but he was ready for all day kindergarten (since preschool was basically the morning, but really only 2.5 hours) and what that brought (more time with teachers to learn basic reading, math, etc., to expand on what he was already learning in preschool). There were several kids in his preschool class that were the same way, been in it for 2 years and already putting together simple words in preschool. To put these kids in 1/2 day kindergarten is almost holding them up.