Sisters has kindergarten options

To respond to the recent state ruling that disallows school districts to charge tuition for kindergarten, the Sisters School District is looking at alternative sources for funding its second half-day of all-day kindergarten.

According to superintendent Elaine Drakulich, the school district will be able to continue charging tuition throughout the remainder of this school year, but whether or not it can continue to do so next year is still unknown. Right now, the Sisters School District charges parents $2,500 annually for the half-day of kindergarten that is not paid for by the state.

The opinion that bars school districts from charging tuition was issued on November 30, 2007 by Oregon Assistant Attorney General Serena Hewitt. It states that: "A school district that chooses to extend its kindergarten program to six hours per day is prohibited from charging tuition to cover instruction costs because the extended program is the regular school program."

The ruling came after a Corvallis parent complained that it is unfair to low-income families for public schools to charge tuition, an argument based on the Oregon Constitution's requirement that lawmakers must provide a "uniform" system of public education.

Right now in Central Oregon both the Sisters and the Bend-La Pine school districts charge tuition for the second half-day of their all-day kindergartens. Twenty-two students are currently enrolled in the Sisters program, said Drakulich.

It has long been the policy of the state to pay school districts for only a half-day of kindergarten, with state legislators repeatedly voting against funding all-day kindergarten. Primary reasons legislators oppose all-day kindergarten are because of the $40 million the program would cost the state and the hardship it would create for school districts that simply do not have the physical space to house kindergarteners for an extra half-day.

"My planning at this point is that we will offer an all-day kindergarten next year; however, it will not be one where parents are paying for half of it. It will be one in which we attach Title I dollars to. We receive Title I dollars for our elementary school because it meets the criteria for student economic need. We are looking at a different way to be able to offer all-day kindergarten next year," Drakulich said.

As an alternative to the school district's all-day kindergarten, Sisters has two state-licensed child care centers that provide programs.

Duck Duck Goose Acada-Me provides care for students who attend half-day kindergarten at the elementary school and need care the other half of the day. The school has an arrangement with the school district that provides bus service between Duck Duck Goose and the elementary school. Before- and after-school day care is also provided.

A Joyful Noise Learning Center also provides a half-day kindergarten experience to complement the public school's program.

Staff members pick up children at the elementary school and walk them back to A Joyful Noise for their second-half day of kindergarten.

A Joyful Noise also offers an all-day kindergarten program. For additional information about Duck Duck Goose's options for kindergarteners, contact the school's owner Sarina Henderson, at 549-3825. For information about A Joyful Noise's program, call Evelyn Brush, the schools's owner, at 549-2066.