Commentary: Time for Full-Day K

By Guest

Editor’s note: The full-day kindergarten program referenced in this letter was approved by voters at annual town meeting on Wednesday, May 11.

Dear fellow citizens:

Full-day kindergarten has become an essential foundation for a child’s education and needs to be free for every student. Canton charges tuition and is well behind the rest of the state in offering full-day kindergarten for free. Full-day kindergarten is a tremendous investment, yielding a range of benefits for the rest of the child’s academic career, and contributes to taking Canton schools to the next level. Our community has an important opportunity at town meeting to make full-day kindergarten free and accessible to all.

Full-day kindergarten offers children a more fulfilling and enjoyable experience than the half-day program, which consists of the same curriculum truncated into less time. Increased time with teachers can uncover a child’s individual learning difficulties and address them earlier. Full-day improves academic achievement in the short and long term. It enables children more time to learn through purposeful play, and time to grow social and emotional skills with their classmates.

Full-day kindergarten has become essential for students to transition to the increasingly demanding and challenging expectations of first grade and beyond. My first grader has math worksheets and reading for nightly homework, spelling quizzes weekly, and is expected to frequently practice math skills on a computer program. First grade teachers notice half-day students may struggle with the difficult elevation in workload and curriculum complexity. Workload expectations are challenging, but the level of sophistication of the concepts children are learning is simply jaw dropping.

Demand for full day has grown sharply in recent years; while half-day enrollments have shrunk substantially. Most Massachusetts communities (75 percent) have already adopted free full-day kindergarten. Participation in Canton’s $3,500 full-day program has grown this year to 85 percent of all students, compared to 58 percent in 2012. Most students who applied to full day are accepted through an unpopular lottery system, but this understates true demand. Families that cannot afford the tuition do not bother to apply. Other families reluctantly choose half day only to be ensured a spot in a private aftercare program.

The necessity of full-day kindergarten in Canton has reached a critical tipping point. This outstanding program needs to be free for all children, not just for families that can afford the tuition. The article in this year’s town meeting warrant has broad support from the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, and the Finance Committee. This proposal provides funding to get the program off the ground in the first year. In subsequent years, Canton qualifies for an increase in state aid with the remaining balance easier to fit into the budget. Please attend town meeting and enthusiastically vote for free full-day kindergarten, an incredible investment in the future of our children.

Thank you,

Steve MacPherson

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