AID BILL EXTENDS CLASSES; KINDERGARTNERS MIGHT GO ALL DAY

Missouri kindergarten students may be hitting the books a little longer next year if local school districts opt to extend classes all day.

The $315 million tax-and-reform package the legislature passed a week ago includes funding, phased in over four years, for full-day kindergartens in all districts that want to offer them.

Some districts, including several in Southeast Missouri, offer full-day kindergarten already even though the state now provides money to school districts on a per-pupil basis for only a half-day of kindergarten.

This school year, 57,067 children attended half a day; only 18,962 attended all day, school figures show.

Currently, 266 of the state's 537 districts provide a half-day program and 205 offer all-day kindergarten. Sixty-four school districts offer both, said Stephen Barr, coordinator of state programs for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education with Cape Girardeau public schools, said the district can't extend it's kindergarten classes to full-day because no space is available.

"We would have a problem with having enough classroom space," Bollwerk said. "Currently we use all the classrooms available. If we went to full-day kindergarten, we would need another six or seven classrooms."

Cape Girardeau does offer extended-day kindergarten for children in remedial reading and remedial math programs. But Bollwerk said the Chapter I program is structured differently than an all-day program.

"The Chapter I teacher works on areas the regular teacher indicates the student is having trouble with. They get a double dose in reading or math."

Oak Ridge public school has offered all-day kindergarten for years. Now Superintendent Roger Tatum hopes the school district will be able to tap into state funds for the program.

He said he's not sure, though, because no interpretation of the provision has been forwarded.

"Missouri is supposed to be a leader in pre-school education, and has been through Parents as Teachers. But for years they have not funded all-day kindergarten.

"I hope I will be able to claim these students as whole students," he said. "They may be small, but they're whole students."

Tatum said he sees advantages for youngsters to attend kindergarten all day.

"They get used to the school environment. They have physical education class and we can concentrate on reading skills," he said. "And it makes the transition to first grade much easier."

In addition, he said rural districts also receive a savings in transportation costs by busing kindergarteners along with other students in the morning and afternoon.