“The first year of this biennial budget will be devoted to a planning year,” Strickland said. “We want the schools to have adequate time to look at what’s being required — to understand the evidence based approach. During this first biennium, we want to make sure that all day, every day kindergarten is available throughout our entire state. That will be the first of the evidence-based component parts that we will require.”
From there, he said the rest of his model will be phased in along with funding for it. Under the plan, all students enrolled in kindergarten will be counted and funded as full-time students regardless of a parent’s choice to enroll the child full- or part-time.
Lakota Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Lon Stettler said the district has been looking at the facility issues since the all-day kindergarten idea was introduced.
More discussion and long-term planning will take place later in August, he said.
Lakota ended this past year with 1,312 kindergarten students. It’s enrollment projection for next year is 1,271 students.
Committees, which included parents, came up with several possible scenarios to transition the district to full-day programming, but Stettler said it is yet unclear how many parents would take advantage of the programming.
Around 20 percent of Lakota kindergartners would most benefit from the all-day program both academically and socially, he said.
There would be a need to build either more classroom space or possibly more facilities to house the students, he said.
“We do need input form parents so we know what percent of the parents want their child to be in for the full day,” he said.
The Ohio Schools Facility Commission has been asked to look into the facility issue, but no promises have been made that it would help districts pay for new buildings. In the past, Lakota has not qualified for state aide in the construction of its buildings.
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