BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The biggest holdup in Cincinnati Public Schools' proposed 1998-99 budget focuses on the district's youngest students.
School board members want all 24 of the district's half-day kindergartens to become all-day programs this coming school year -- rather than converting eight programs a year for the next three years, a strategy Superintendent J. Michael Brandt suggested to save money.
"The earlier the intervention, the more successful kids are going to be in school," board member Lynn Marmer said.
All-day kindergartens also have become an economic necessity for working families, Ms. Marmer said.
"You don't have moms anymore who can pick up their kids in the middle of the day to take them to the swimming pool every day," she said.
Mr. Brandt's $369.6 million budget proposal called for $402,500 in funds to convert eight kindergartens.
Converting all the kindergartens would boost that cost to $1.2 million.
Staffing is the biggest expense. Providing transportation poses logistical problems, Mr. Brandt said.
The district already spends $11 million on dozens of all-day kindergartens, district treasurer Richard Gardner said.
Board members had planned to vote on the budget Monday but postponed approval to see if Mr. Brandt and Mr. Gardner can juggle money to convert all 24 of the remaining half-day kindergartens.
State law doesn't require districts to approve a budget until October, but CPS typically adopts one every summer.
Incoming Superintendent Steven Adamowski, who will replace Mr. Brandt in August, has been briefed on budget matters, Mr. Brandt said.
Critics say all-day kindergarten programs create classroom space problems in some districts.
Some argue that that many children need expanded instruction before they reach kindergarten age.
But all-day kindergartens have prompted praise from many educators nationwide.
Proponents say the programs are especially helpful to children from poor homes, who often need extra help to catch up.
The 1998 Commission on the Future of the South recommended that every state mandate all-day kindergartens by 2000, saying education is the only way to break the cycle of poverty that infects many areas of the South.
Building Excellent Schools for Today and the 21st Century, an Ohio group of public- and private-sector leaders, also has advocated all-day kindergartens.
Ohio lawmakers have supported all-day kindergartens in urban districts, attaching strings to state money to ensure it funds all-day programs.
Mr. Brandt's budget proposal also calls for additional spending on new elementary reading and language arts texts, discipline initiatives, more team-based schools, a new community school, more after-school activities, more secretarial and clerical staff in elementaries and the creation of a year-round program at Woodward.
