At a time when books fees are climbing and school corporations are increasingly more competitive, some schools are trying something new to draw parents in: cheap kindergarten.
The Southeastern School Corporation is introducing $1 kindergarten fees at Thompson and Galveston elementary schools. Thompson principal Dennis Ide said 46 percent of the students in the district receive free and reduced price books and lunch, and the fees are a way to help alleviate financial stress and draw people into the district.
Southeastern Superintendent Tim Garland said school corporations are required by Indiana code to rent textbooks to students, and said the code requires a fee be attached.
The code does say public schools, referred to in the section as governing bodies, shall rent curricular materials to students enrolled in the school. It specifies that fees may not exceed 25 percent of the retail price of the materials. The code does not specify that a fee must be attached with the rental of these materials.
Taylor and Eastern Howard elementary schools both provide free kindergarten, each starting the offer last year. Eastern Superintendent Tracy Caddell said free kindergarten has helped parents choose Eastern. The district relies on transfer students, he said.
“Eastern cannot survive financially based upon the current funding model without transfer students,” he said.
Even without free kindergarten, the district has had high enrollment numbers, he said, but every little bit helps, and it can also help parents who already live in the Eastern district choose to stay.
Eastern receives transfer students from several other districts, especially Kokomo and Taylor, but Caddell has started to see a change over the last few years.
“Taylor in particular has done a really nice job in working to keep their own students,” Caddell said.
Caddell said Kokomo also works hard to retain its students, but he’s started seeing fewer students transferring from Taylor especially.
Free kindergarten is one of the ways Taylor is trying to keep its students. It seems to be working, said Jeremy Luna, principal of Taylor Elementary School.
“We’ve seen a substantial increase in our kindergarten numbers since doing this,” Luna said. “It’s a successful practice.”
During kindergarten roundup in the spring, where students can enroll for the following fall’s classes, Luna said he saw higher numbers than he’s seen in the past, with almost 70 students enrolling before the start of summer break.
Luna said the program is an important way for the district to welcome new families.
Amanda Wiley has two children in Taylor Elementary. Her younger son just finished kindergarten, and she said it was a nice surprise last year when she realized she wouldn’t have to pay book fees for him.
“It’s nice for all the families in the community not to have to worry about kindergarten fees,” Wiley said. “I think it’s good for the community.”
Now that her younger son is moving into first grade, she and her husband are back to paying fees for two children, which they planned for. But she said of course it would be nice if fees for all grades could be waived.
“At Taylor, there’s a wide range of diversity in economics and just different backgrounds that the kids bring,” she said. “To be able to offer that to every grade for free would be a nice thing.”
Most school districts don’t offer kindergarten for free or even close to $1. In fact, the fee at several schools is over $100.
Steve Arthur, principal for Western Primary School, said there’s a lot of competition among districts to enroll students. Western charges $125 in kindergarten fees, but if parents have difficulty paying, the school works with them to figure out a payment plan, he said.
Western School Corporation charges a fee of $125. Superintendent Randy McCracken said the district has consistent kindergarten enrollment numbers, including transfer students. Parents want their children to attend Western because of the work of its teachers, but free kindergarten can be an attraction for many families, he said.