ROTTERDAM Full-day kindergarten may be reality State, federal aid would let district make change without affecting budget BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Full-day kindergarten is back on the table at Schalmont. Later this month, the district’s Board of Education will decide whether to approve the change for the 2009-10 school year. Board members approved the switch in 2004 but were never able to fund the program due to budget constraints. This year, state and federal aid will provide Schalmont with the necessary funding for the program without placing any burden on the district’s budget for the upcoming year. Superintendent Valerie Kelsey said the aid would cover the cost of full-day kindergarten for about three years, after which the funding would come through job attrition across the district. “Children in Schalmont deserve the same opportunities for academic success that most of their neighbors now have,” she said Thursday. “By making use of this aid, we could give them that.” Kelsey said Schalmont would also realize savings through a consolidation of bus runs. She said an elimination of the midday service could save the district more than $100,000 in annual transportation costs. “Because we’re a fairly large geographical region, that’s a fairly substantial savings,” she said. If approved, Kelsey said the district will establish one full-day section at the Woestina and Mariaville elementary schools, as well as fi ve classes at Jefferson Elementary. About 126 kindergartners are enrolled in the district this year. Schalmont is the only Schenectady County school district that hasn’t approved a switch to full-day kindergarten. Duanesburg and Schenectady both have full-day kindergarten; Mohonasen approved the switch for next year, while Scotia-Glenville opted to phase in its program. Board members will vote on full-day kindergarten during their meeting on April 27 Kelsey said the move to full-day kindergarten would restore two full-time equivalent elementary school teaching positions trimmed in the 2009 budget. Those positions were among 12 trimmed in the 2009-10 budget proposal passed by the board this week. The $42.3 million budget proposal keeps the tax levy level at $27.7 million and represents a 1.87 percent spending increase over the previous year’s figures. Budget cuts include position losses at the Schalmont Middle School, a 10 percent reduction in instructional supplies and freezing the district’s five-year bus replacement plan. “From October on, we really worked hard to be as tight as we could,” Kelsey said, noting the district trimmed roughly $900,000 from the budget. “We worked very hard to ensure the cuts we made did not affect our programs.”
ROTTERDAM Schalmont implements full-day kindergarten BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Kindergartners attending the Schalmont Central School District next fall will be in for a full day of classes. Members of the Board of Education unanimously approved a fullday kindergarten program during their meeting Monday, making Schalmont the latest Schenectady County school district to adopt such a program. District officials said the switch won’t cost taxpayers anything extra in the proposed 2009-2010 budget thanks to a combination of education aid and cost savings. Superintendent Valerie Kelsey said the full-day program received overwhelming support among parents who returned comments on the proposal. She said about 45 parents responded to the district’s request for comments this month, with about nine of every 10 responses being in favor of the program. “We had a very positive response and some very thoughtful responses,” she said following the vote. However, not everybody attending the board’s meeting was in favor of the change. Some said the district was too hasty in its decision, which came more than a month after parents of the incoming kindergarten class attended an orientation for the district’s halfday program. “This was too late in the year,” said Carmella Cervera, who expected her 6-year-old son would be attending the half-day kindergarten next fall. “This was wrong.” But the board decided an enticing package of state and federal aid — including the one-time-only funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — was too good to pass up. The district has discussed implementing a full-day program since 2000, but was never able to fund the program because of budget constraints. “That played a very big part [in our decision],” board Chairman Robert Sheehan said of the economic stimulus funding. Kelsey said the district will plan another orientation program for the full-day program this spring. She said there could be as many as two orientations before the full-day program starts in September. Earlier this month, the neighboring Mohonasen district adopted a full-day program using a similar aid and savings formula. The school districts in Duanesburg and Schenectady now offer full-day programs, while Scotia-Glenville opted to phase in its program. Niskayuna is the only remaining school district in the county to not offer a full-day program. In January, Niskayuna Superintendent Kevin Baughman said his district wouldn’t pursue full-day because it would require “a significant increase in staff” that would eventually prove burdensome for taxpayers once the aid expires. Schalmont will establish one full-day section at the Woestina and Mariaville elementary schools, as well as five classes at Jefferson Elementary. About 126 kindergartners are enrolled in the district this year. The district will help fund the first three years of the program using a planning grant and incentive aid through the state. Schalmont will also depend on federal stimulus funds to expand early education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. .....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01101
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