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Background
The success of Wisconsin's great public schools is linked to the general
readiness of students to learn, and kids are better prepared to learn
when they are provided with working classrooms at a young age. That
is why appropriate funding for four-year-old kindergarten (4K) is important.
Four-year-old kindergarten programs provide young learners with opportunities to reach their full potential. The benefits last well beyond the early grades. In Wisconsin, 233 of Wisconsin's 426 school districts offered 4K programs during the 2001-2002 school year, serving more than 13,000 students.
Legislative history
WEAC fought for and won a battle during the 2001-2003 budget deliberations
to retain current levels of funding for 4K programs. Senate Democrats
adopted a WEAC- supported plan to fully fund 4K programs. Assembly Republicans,
however, voted to eliminate all state funding for regular education
4K children and also removed them from the state's two-thirds funding
commitment. A compromise position was adopted by the Legislature that
cut $14 million from 4K funding.
WEAC worked with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and other pro-public education representatives urging Governor McCallum to use his veto power to restore the $14 million funding for 4K programs. As a result of those efforts, the governor did veto the cuts and fully restored current law funding for 4K. Thus, pupils enrolled in a 4K program will count as 0.5 of a pupil as under current law. Also, all children in a 4K program that provides 87.5 additional hours of outreach activities will be counted as 0.6 of a pupil as under current law.
WEAC position
WEAC supports funding to count pupils enrolled in a four-year-old kindergarten
program on a full-time equivalency (FTE) basis for the purposes of calculating
revenue limits and general school aids. This would make the funding
for 4K the same as funding for five-year-old kindergarten programs.
Talking points
Additional information
Contact Bob Burke at WEAC at 800-362- 8034 ext. 254 or by e-mail at
burkeb@weac.org with any reactions,
comments or questions.
Posted July 26, 2002