{"id":1304697,"date":"2019-03-02T22:59:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T05:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/?p=449720"},"modified":"2019-03-02T22:59:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T05:59:16","slug":"harrison-full-day-kindergarten-should-be-available-to-all-colorado-kids-column","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/harrison-full-day-kindergarten-should-be-available-to-all-colorado-kids-column\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrison: Full-day kindergarten should be available to all Colorado kids (column)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, we were honored to have Gov. Jared Polis visit Avon Elementary<\/a> and pitch his plan for access to free, full-day kindergarten for every Colorado child.<\/p>\n

As the principal at Avon Elementary, I see the difference that full-day kindergarten makes in the lives of our kids every single day, and I’m glad that the new governor is making this a top priority in his new administration.<\/p>\n

The research backs up what we witness in our own school. Children who attend kindergarten for a full day had stronger academic outcomes the following year, more self-confidence, and were better at getting along with others than children who only attended half-day kindergarten or had no kindergarten instruction at all.<\/p>\n

Right now, Avon, like many communities, provides half-day kindergarten, but we don’t have room in the budget to provide our kids with full-day kindergarten. That leaves Avon parents with three choices: paying $270 per month out-of-pocket for tuition, finding child care, which can often be even more expensive or reducing hours at work, meaning that parents lose out on pay and productivity.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Colorado’s growing tax base and positive economic outlook have enabled the state to consider picking up the cost for full-day kindergarten for every Colorado student, while also putting away money to continue to fund full-day kindergarten in case the state experiences an economic downturn in the future.<\/p>\n

The state’s investment will save parents money and allow them to return to the workforce more quickly, which will not only help families but also boost our local economy as a whole. Families in Eagle County with students entering kindergarten could be looking at a savings of up to $2,430 per year.<\/p>\n

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With the state paying for full-day kindergarten, it will also open up slots for early childhood education (preschool) programs across the states \u2014 programs that also deliver positive benefits for our kids.<\/p>\n

Providing every child in Colorado with access to free, full-day kindergarten is essential for closing the achievement gap and producing educational equity, and it will also allow for better instruction in first grade, second grade, and beyond.<\/p>\n

As Gov. Polis said in his state of the state address, “this is not a mandate for school districts or parents, but will be a great opportunity for parents who believe it is the best option for their children and districts who want to offer this option to families.”<\/p>\n

Full-day kindergarten should be available to all Colorado kids \u2014 not just to parents and districts who can afford it. Lawmakers have an opportunity to ensure a brighter future for all of our kids here in Colorado. On behalf of our parents, our school, our district, and our students, I urge them to take it.<\/p>\n

Dana Harrison is the principal of Avon Elementary School.<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Vail Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, we were honored to have Gov. Jared Polis visit Avon Elementary and pitch his plan for access to free, full-day kindergarten for every Colorado child. As the principal at Avon Elementary, I see the difference that full-day kindergarten makes in the lives of our kids every single day, and I’m glad that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1304697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 09:36:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1304697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1304697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1304697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1304697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}