School districts cannot make parents pay for all-day kindergarten

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has issued an opinion that school districts cannot make parents pay for all-day kindergarten. The opinion most likely means districts that charge for the full-day option will have to stop the practice, and they may have to reimburse families who have already paid for this school year. The Ohio Department of Education requested the opinion after parents questioned tuition fees and has asked districts to review it with their legal advisors. The state mandates only half a day of kindergarten and pays toward that cost, as well as helping fund a full-day program in high-poverty districts. A majority of Ohio school districts offer the all-day option, but the state does not keep track of how many have a fee. But some do charge—anywhere from a few hundred dollars for children from low-income families to the $2,000-a-year fee in Aurora. Aurora Superintendent Russ Bennett says his district may in the future be forced to consider eliminating the full-day option or cut other programs to make up for the $200,000 a year in tuition that would be lost. It’s a tough choice considering the benefits of the full-day program. "We didn't see this one coming," he says. The Solon school district has offered the full-day option for more than 17 years, and about 80% of its 240 kindergartners take advantage of it. Superintendent Joseph Regano says the school board will have to look for ways to cover the $300,000 annual price tag for the extended day. He doubts the rug will be pulled out from under the program this year but says other cuts will have to be made. He says the Ohio legislature could come up with a solution by passing a law to allow the charges. Kevin McIver, chief of the opinions section for the office of the attorney general, says the effects of the opinion will be immediate. "My view is, I would probably advise districts to reimburse tuition to parents who request it for the current school year," he says. The opinion was based on the law that requires districts to provide free education to all children. The law does not spell out any exceptions in regards to full-day kindergarten programs, Mr. McIver says. Some districts have been phasing out the fees on their own over the years.

Cleveland Plain Dealer By Ellen Jan Kleinerman & Angela Townsend

[Editor’s Note: The opinion is below. The same question arose in Indiana, with a different result. NSBA’s Delegate Assembly last year adopted a position supporting "full day kindergarten with academic standards to raise student achievement" and calling on the federal and state governments to provide the necessary resources. According to a section of the report below by NSBA’s Center for Public Education, a 2004 federal study found that "children in full-day kindergarten classes learned more during the year in both reading and mathematics compared to those in half-day classes, after adjusting for learning differences associated with race and ethnicity, poverty status, fall achievement level, sex, class size, relative amount of time for subject area instruction, and the presence of an instructional aide.”]
Attorney General opinion
NSBA School Law pages in Indianapolis opinion
Center for Public Education on school scheduling