Is kindergarten full day in Arizona?

• Coalition of business, education and political leaders pushing for full-day kindergarten
• Because full-day K isn't required, the state isn't sure which schools have it and which do not
• Educators say kindergarten is important for bolstering third-grade reading literacy

An effort to make kindergarten in Arizona an optional full-day grade at no cost to families has gathered a wave of public support in the past two months.

Many parents want it to happen. Educators want it. Business leaders want it. As do several state legislators — both Democrats and Republicans. Gov. Doug Ducey has spoken of its importance.

So, what’s standing in the way?

Money.

It would cost an estimated $240 million to fully fund kindergarten if, by law, it became a full grade.

A coalition of education, business and elected officials lobbying for the effort say it is more than worth the price tag and unlike what has been proposed in recent years.

They also say they’re encouraged by the mounting public support gathered at a September breakfast where Ducey spoke, and at a presentation at a recent state Board of Education meeting.

Kindergarten is not technically a required grade in Arizona, meaning the state does not fund or oversee it as it does other grades. 

Students of kindergarten age don't have to go to school if their parents don't want them to, and the state doesn't keep track of which schools currently offer full-day K and which don't.

Here is what we know about the latest kindergarten effort:

What is being proposed?

An important provision of making kindergarten a grade, supporters say, is that it would protect it from ever losing state funding the way it did when the Arizona Legislature defunded a short-lived, full-day K program in 2010 following the recession.

Making kindergarten a grade would also ensure schools are held to the same accountability standards in teaching kindergartners as they are fourth- or 10th-graders.

This proposal differs from previous kindergarten-related efforts.

Gov. Janet Napolitano's initiative, which was eventually scrapped, essentially doubled the funding per kindergarten student to sustain all-day programs but did not declare it a grade or include any additional accountability provisions.

A bill introduced in the 2015 legislative session would have required schools to offer free, full-day kindergarten but did not include any funding for schools to make it happen.

Arizona currently mandates schools offer 2.5 hours of state-funded kindergarten, which is widely referred to as half-day kindergarten.

Reading, writing and math standards are included in Arizona's College and Career Ready Standards, which were adopted in 2010 and are more rigorous than what'd been in place.

Parents would still have the option to choose under the proposed plan whether their kids attend a six-hour day, 2.5-hour day — or nothing at all.

How do schools currently fund full-day K?

The funding and implementation of full-day programs are provided by district and charter schools through a patchwork of methods.

Many districts fund full-day programs through property-tax initiatives such as overrides. Other schools charge families tuition. Some schools have shuffled around money in their budgets to fund it.

Beyond the academic benefits, schools have financial incentive to offer free full-day K programs because of the competitiveness spurred through Arizona's open-enrollment law.

Some districts in previous years have reported dips in kindergarten enrollment — and thus, per-pupil funding — when they weren't able to offer full-day kindergarten for free because parents took their kids to other districts and charter schools that did.

What schools offer free full-day K programs?

It's hard to say how many Arizona schools currently offer full-day kindergarten programs and the number of students it reaches — even anecdotally.

The state Department of Education keeps data on how many students attend half-day programs. But it does not track full-day kindergarten programs nor is it required to oversee how schools implement them because the programs are considered optional for schools to provide.

The number of schools that offer full-day K programs has fluctuated in the years since the recession because of the volatility surrounding how schools come up with money.

The Tolleson Elementary School District, for example, was unable to fund full-day K for free for the 2011-12 school year when voters turned down an override the year before.

Lupita Hightower, superintendent of the Tolleson Elementary School District, said the district offered a tuition-based program that school year. But in a district of mostly low-income households, only 25 percent of students' families could afford the full-day tuition, she said.

Tolleson Elementary passed an override the following year to fund kindergarten. It is up for renewal again this year.

What are the benefits of  full day?

Tamara Jackson, a kindergarten teacher at Sheely Farms Elementary School in the Tolleson Elementary district, said a six-hour day of instruction plays a critical role for her and her pupils.

The pace of instruction under a 2.5-hour day was frenetic, she said. Her students often would have difficulty staying focused and struggled in the transition to first grade because they weren't yet acclimated to a full school day.

Jackson also taught more students — a class in the morning and another in the afternoon — under the half-day model.

Many educators say the foundation for reading and writing well by third grade is taught to kids in kindergarten and that such programs are especially beneficial for low-income students.

Mike Griffith, a senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan Education Commission of the States, said research generally shows students in full-day kindergarten programs have academic gains compared with peers who aren't.

However, Griffith also said that research has proven that those gains can be lost if they're not sustained in future grades.

Hightower, the Tolleson Elementary superintendent, said the students in that one year of half-day kindergarten, now fourth- and fifth-graders, struggled academically soon after.

"The data shows that unfortunately, and it pains me to say it, the vast majority of them are still lagging behind," Hightower said.

Where would the money come from?

“Don’t know,” State Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, said after speaking Monday to the state Board of Education.

But if the governor wants full-day kindergarten, Smith added, "I believe there is actual momentum in the Legislature to pursue it."

No actual plans for funding the effort have been introduced yet. Education officials and advocates have made it clear the past two months that they do not want to see kindergarten funded at the expense of other programs and services already in place.

Ducey spoke of the importance of kindergarten at a "Power of K" breakfast in September, though he has not publicly committed to funding the effort.

Rodney Glassman, an attorney for the Kindergarten as an Optional Full Day Grade Coalition, said the most economically efficient plan for the state would likely be to phase the money in over a period of time.

Who's supporting the effort?

The list includes Michael Crow, president of ASU; Phil Francis, former chairman and CEO of PetSmart; Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and the Arizona Business and Education Coalition, which includes the Arizona Education Association and Arizona School Boards Association.

Is there pressure for full-day kindergarten?

There is, whether by design or not.

A Ducey-backed initiative unveiled in September aims to boost Arizona’s postsecondary attainment rate to 60 percent by 2030. The governor cited early-childhood literacy as an important component of reaching that goal.

Third-grade reading proficiency is also emphasized in Arizona because of the state’s Move On When Reading Law. The law requires students be able to read at a certain proficiency before being promoted to fourth grade.

The latest third-grade reading results on AzMERIT, Arizona's standardized test, showed reading proficiency across the state remained stagnant compared with the previous year.

Third-graders are still among the highest performers on AzMERIT compared with students in other grades. But about 60 percent of them failed the reading portion of AzMERIT and a higher percentage scored "minimally proficient," the lowest performance level, than the year before.

“It was real interesting that the same year we implemented Move On When Reading to hold students to a (high) standard was the same year we chose to de-fund all-day kindergarten,” said Tim Carter, Yavapai County superintendent and the state education board's vice president.

“All the research shows (kindergarten) is the Number 1 indicator in reading and writing success for third grade.”

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