Bozeman schools consider
expanding kindergarten

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer, May 16, 2007

Frustrated by the 2007 Legislature's decisions on school funding, Bozeman school administrators are taking a serious look at increasing kindergarten classes next year to three-quarters time or even full time to take advantage of new state money.

“We're going to brainstorm ways of at least partially implementing it,” Steve Johnson, assistant superintendent for business, said after Monday's School Board meeting.

Though some lawmakers have called the Legislature's school funding a historic increase, Bozeman officials said they're still struggling to avoid a budget shortage in the elementary schools and teacher layoffs in the high school.

Much of the additional money passed by the Legislature is for one-time uses, like building repairs, Johnson said, while his biggest problem is balancing the general fund budget.

“My disappointment is the majority of our costs are ongoing and they continue to give us substantial amounts of one-time-only, earmarked money,” Johnson said. “We have needs (that will be helped by the Legislature's earmarks), but they are setting the agenda rather than letting locally elected trustees decide.”

Bozeman's high school district faces a bigger shortage because enrollment there dipped. Johnson said he hopes there will be enough teacher retirements and resignations that lay-offs won't be needed. Next Monday will be the “drop dead” date, when the School Board will have to decide whether to send lay-off notices. Otherwise, teacher contracts are automatically renewed.

Expanding kindergarten would be one way to tap into additional state dollars. Without it, Bozeman elementary schools' base budget will likely grow next school year by around 3.68 percent. That's less than the average 4.5 percent that teacher salaries are slated to increase.

And in the second year of the state's two-year budget, schools' base budgets are to increase only 1.86 percent.

“It's pretty pathetic,” Johnson said.

If Bozeman schools could offer full-time kindergarten, it would bring in about $700,000 a year in state money that would be ongoing from year to year, he said.

That would be enough to pay for additional kindergarten teachers, wipe out the projected elementary budget shortfall, and hire new math intervention teachers.

Bozeman school would also qualify for $400,000 to $500,000 in one-time, start-up money to pay for desks, supplies and other costs of launching full-time kindergarten, Johnson said.

The problem is Bozeman schools don't have any room for extra kindergarten classes.

As of Monday, 419 new kindergartner students were signed up for next fall -- 90 more than at this time last year, Marilyn King, assistant superintendent for instruction said Tuesday.

Today most of Bozeman's 394 kindergartners attend school all day, every other day (for example, Monday and Wednesday and every other Friday).

Some teachers and parents like it, but many have complained that the schedule is hard on kids and lacks continuity.

If 10 to 12 minutes a day were added to those classes next year, Johnson said, that would bring kindergarten classes up to three-quarter time, and provide additional state money two years from now.

If kindergarten went to full-time next year, state “transition” money would be available right away.