The success of Governor Patrick, Speaker DiMasi, and Senate President Murray in defending equal marriage is perhaps the largest victory of the Governor’s first few months.
What’s next? The key question is: will the cooperation between the Governor, the Speaker, and Senate President mark a sign of things to come?
If so, groundbreaking reforms — in transportation, in municipal finance, in energy and the environment, in education — could happen. How can we encourage that? What should the Governor, the Speaker, and the Senate President turn to next?
Please share widely!
When our state funds full day kindergarten, and Head Start or pre-K, so that every kid who walks into kindergarten knows how to hold a pencil, then fifteen years down the line we will see fewer drop-outs among poor and minority students.
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And probably fewer juveniles in the corrections dept.
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And probably higher enrollment in our community colleges and state universities.
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Which will be a great thing for our state.
that funding full-day kindergarten doesn’t speak to the infrastructure problems such a program would create. We have half-day K in my (very high achieving) regional district, and have absolutely no room whatsoever to provide full-day. We would need to build extensively to meet the demand, and I don’t see the state picking up the tab for all the space that would be needed to get the program off the ground. Be careful what you wish for; one size does not fit all.
Well, it’s interesting that whatever space your schools occupies with morning kindergartners is booked for someone else in the afternoon, so I guess that could be an extra cost.
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But it’s strange to me that Arkansas in the 1977 had full-day kindergarten and Massachusetts in 2007 doesn’t. Might be worth the expense for Massachusetts to guarantee that.
with another session of kindergarten.
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We’d have to increase our K space AND our K faculty by 100%
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That’s not just an “extra cost,” that’s a deal killer right there.
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BTW, education experts are not in agreement that full-day K is worth the bang for the buck in districts that already have high achieving students. Just sayin’.
and aren’t they the ones full-day kindergarten is supposed to help?
Wise use of taxpayers dollars that doesn’t hurt the many for the benefit of the few.
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Seems to me the fact that you jumped to the conclusion that our K space was “booked” for “someone else” is telling. This issue is complex. It’s not all about gut-level feelings that more is better.
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I strongly urge you to look at this issue from a practical point of view, one that considers whether or not full-day K (which does NOT mean full-day instruction, you understand that, right?) is indicated for certain student populations, whether the cost of doubling physical space, faculty, specials faculty, expenses, etc., is actually feasible or beneficial given the overall student achievement in a district, etc.
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This is not a simple issue, so I would urge you not to treat it as one.
As far as I can see, the Gov and the Legislature are still miles apart on this issue.
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Last time I checked, Patrick was still an interloper trying to change the solid bipartisan consensus in the Legislature that things like school, police, fire, libraries, and streets are Someone Else’s Problem.
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Let’s hope the experience of working together to accomplish that which is both right and popular creates an opening and a taste for more of the same.