7K for kindergarten

[Anthony1971]

I am in NJ and in a good school dist. with high property taxes But We are sending our child to private scholl for K-8 and most likely will go to public HS. With all the cuts and growing problems with public we would rather pay and know he will get a good education and hopefully he will keep his study habits in Public HS. I know this is not an option for all but it seems to be the better choice at least in NJ right now.

 

[barbarabini]

I am from NJ too. Can anyone tell me what disricts are considering charging for kindergarten?

 

[fac]

NJ school districts need to consolidate and cut administrative costs. How many teachers and supplies could be paid for if you could cut some of the administrative bloat?

I am in one of the so called "good" school district, however, I definitely think that consolidation is the way to go. I know many people in my town won't agree with me because of the potential loss in housing values.

While I do not like some teachers (and don't get me started), I think the major problem is the administrators.

 

[fac]

I am from NJ too. Can anyone tell me what disricts are considering charging for kindergarten?

I think this is one. I can't find a more recent post, but I think the parents were able to raise the money.

http://newjerseyhills.com/bernardsville_news/news/article_3c678478-18f6-11e0-b5d5-001cc4c03286.html

 

[fac]

I am in NJ and in a good school dist. with high property taxes But We are sending our child to private scholl for K-8 and most likely will go to public HS. With all the cuts and growing problems with public we would rather pay and know he will get a good education and hopefully he will keep his study habits in Public HS. I know this is not an option for all but it seems to be the better choice at least in NJ right now.

Incidentally, we are planning on the same. Just have a private school interview today for middle school and will have another one next week and probably send her back to public HS. I knew a number of parents did that.

DH was talking to me last night, questioning on why we stay in this district if our kid were to go to private school. (My older will stay in public school , another story).

 

[Halbleib1]

I live in Bucks, PA and my DD will start full day K this year. I called about pre-K last year since I knew it was offered through the public school and I was told we didnt qualify. Didnt realize it was based on income. If they decided to change it and make it where we had to pay she would not be going there. Im not thrilled with the school district to begin with at all. I would do that online line class which I have check into already and it is available in PA. I want her to go to K to get aquainted with playing with other kids. There really arent any children in my neighborhood that are her age, we dont belong to any mommy and me classes and her older siblings are 14 and 16 years older so not alot of playing going on there either. So basically the only reason I want her to go is for socialization.

In PA preschool has always cost. Those with low incomes can apply for a head start grant and if your child were to qualify preschool would be at little or no cost to you. Also if you were to have done cyber schooling your child could have gotten pre k for free as well. No income requirements for cyber schooling.

My son started cyber schooling in October. He had just turned 6. We could have started him with pre k last year for free. We chose to give him an extra year off. We also had the option of starting pre k this year rather than K. We decided to give K a try and it has gone pretty well. Although what they expect the kids to know today is much much more than what we had to learn in K. K today is more like what we learnt in first grade when I was a kid.

Also cyber schooling does require a lot of time from the parent that is doing the teaching. But once you get a schedule going it does get much easier. We chose to go through PA Cyber and so far we have found it to be a good choice. They do have group get togethers every now and than so that your child could socialize with others. They will also give you money if your child wanted to enroll in an organized physical activity. If I remember correctly it is 75.00 for the year that they give.

PA does not require that a child even complete K. Kids are not required to be enrolled in school until they are 8 years old.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I am in one of the so called "good" school district, however, I definitely think that consolidation is the way to go. I know many people in my town won't agree with me because of the potential loss in housing values.

While I do not like some teachers (and don't get me started), I think the major problem is the administrators.

It is the unions more then the administrators.

 

[kelly1218]

I live in Bucks, PA and my DD will start full day K this year. I called about pre-K last year since I knew it was offered through the public school and I was told we didnt qualify. Didnt realize it was based on income. If they decided to change it and make it where we had to pay she would not be going there. Im not thrilled with the school district to begin with at all. I would do that online line class which I have check into already and it is available in PA. I want her to go to K to get aquainted with playing with other kids. There really arent any children in my neighborhood that are her age, we dont belong to any mommy and me classes and her older siblings are 14 and 16 years older so not alot of playing going on there either. So basically the only reason I want her to go is for socialization.

I'm in Bucks and I did the same thing. I really am not impressed with our school district, but it's where we live. and really my kids have done well...they are 6th and 9th grade now.
I don't have the organization to home school...and PA has some of the strictest home school laws apparently. (which is a good thing, I'm just afraid I won't be able to keep up without going insane LOL )

 

[kelly1218]

In PA preschool has always cost. Those with low incomes can apply for a head start grant and if your child were to qualify preschool would be at little or no cost to you. Also if you were to have done cyber schooling your child could have gotten pre k for free as well. No income requirements for cyber schooling.

My son started cyber schooling in October. He had just turned 6. We could have started him with pre k last year for free. We chose to give him an extra year off. We also had the option of starting pre k this year rather than K. We decided to give K a try and it has gone pretty well. Although what they expect the kids to know today is much much more than what we had to learn in K. K today is more like what we learnt in first grade when I was a kid.

Also cyber schooling does require a lot of time from the parent that is doing the teaching. But once you get a schedule going it does get much easier. We chose to go through PA Cyber and so far we have found it to be a good choice. They do have group get togethers every now and than so that your child could socialize with others. They will also give you money if your child wanted to enroll in an organized physical activity. If I remember correctly it is 75.00 for the year that they give.

PA does not require that a child even complete K. Kids are not required to be enrolled in school until they are 8 years old.

My school district has a PreK for kids that are 5 (or almost 5)...and are NOT ready for K. It is no cost to the parents. We do also have the low income head start program.

 

[Kathi OD]

It is the unions more then the administrators.

As a teacher in NJ, there is enough blame to go around for everyone. No one group bears more blame than another.

 

[Kathi OD]

Unfortunately, this is not true. It's only a right if your state guarantees it. It isn't guaranteed everywhere.



And this is exactly the problem! I'm a product of NJ public schools. I'm very grateful for the education I received. It was excellent. But the administrative bloat is crippling the system.

Take Stafford Township, for example. They have to support two different school districts: an elementary district AND a middle/high school district. Between the two districts, those taxpayers are supporting 2 superintendents, 1 (possibly 2) assistant superintendents, 9 principals, and 5 assistant principals -- all for the low, low cost of about $1.9 million.

NJ school districts need to consolidate and cut administrative costs. How many teachers and supplies could be paid for if you could cut some of the administrative bloat?

So, OP, you have every right to be ticked.

ABSOLUTELY! Administrative costs in NJ are most definitely a huge part of our problem. Your example of Stafford Township is being played out all over the state. My parents live in Long Beach Township, where they have their own K-6 district and then send their high school students to the same regional high school district as Stafford residents.

Seriously, a K-6 school district? That's crazier than my town's K-8 district.

 

[My2Angels]

Does anyone see the potential for this "dumbing down" our public schools even the more? We as a nation are so far behind other countries in education it is sad.
My first 2 children went to private kindergarten in our home state of Alabama. When they started 1st grade in public school, one of them was way behind in reading and math. So, child number 3, I put in public kindergarten. He was reading chapter books by the end of the year. Well, we moved to another state this summer and started public school here, Georgia. ALL of my kids were behind, and my 2 oldest were in gifted education in Alabama!! The standards are much higher here. They are all caught up now, thanks to great teachers . I say all of that to say that kindergarten DOES make a big difference!!
Anyway, where I was going with this: if the kids in your state OP are not able to afford kindergarten, and also don't get all of the benefits at home, they are already coming into 1st grade behind. That means the 1st grade teachers are going to have quite a job catching them up. It also means that the rest of the class will have to wait on the kids that are behind. Just a thought???

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I have never heard of paying for public school. Isn't that what you pay school taxes for? What state do you live in?

me neither!

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

I saw this on the news in NJ. Apparently a school here proposed to make K half day b/c of budget cuts. Parents did some fund raising which helped a little and then had to pay $2500 out of pocket for each child in K.

K is NOT mandatory in NJ, and DD's school is only half day K. Personally if this happened to out district (if we had full day K) I would not be happy paying the $2500. Every child has a right to a FREE public education. However, at the same time I see how having half day K only makes things harder for working parents (kids here hop on a bus and it takes them to a daycare/preschool type of environment for the remainder of the day).So they have to pay for that too which is a burden.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

ABSOLUTELY! Administrative costs in NJ are most definitely a huge part of our problem. Your example of Stafford Township is being played out all over the state. My parents live in Long Beach Township, where they have their own K-6 district and then send their high school students to the same regional high school district as Stafford residents.

Seriously, a K-6 school district? That's crazier than my town's K-8 district.

Well, Stafford is the same: a K-6 district, plus the high school district. And hey, not all of LBI is part of LBI schools. Beach Haven has its own district for about 10-20 kids per grade! I think four elementary districts send to Southern, but only 3 of the districts are "member" districts. The fourth is a sending district. The same administrative bloat can be found one district south at Pinelands Regional.

Now that I live in Illinois, I have a whole different pack of funding problems.

 

[Halbleib1]

I'm in Bucks and I did the same thing. I really am not impressed with our school district, but it's where we live. and really my kids have done well...they are 6th and 9th grade now.
I don't have the organization to home school...and PA has some of the strictest home school laws apparently. (which is a good thing, I'm just afraid I won't be able to keep up without going insane LOL )

Just to clarify for those that do not know cyber schooling and home schooling are actually two different things. Many cyber schoolers do call themselves home schoolers since they do the work at home however there are big differences. Cyber schooling is still public schooling and is paid for through the state with taxpayer money from the district in which you live. Home schooling you pay oop for the materials that you use and you get to decide more of what you are and are not going to teach. Yes the state does give you guidelines but they do not pick the curriculum for you. Cyber schooling they send everything to you that you will need including school and art supplies, laptop computers, printers, and all of the books that you need. They also pay for your internet connection. With cyber schooling you also have a teacher and an instructional supervisor checking up on you. You also submit some work online and the teacher assigned to your child will be the one to grade it.

Cyber schools actually spend less money per child than a brick and mortar school. Go figure considering everything that they provide per child. Every year I see complaints here on the boards about the lists of supplies the schools want students to bring in at the beginning of the year and yet cyber schools provide all of it and much more for a much lower cost to taxpayers. They also have a higher success rate for graduation than brick and mortar schools.

I believe much of the reason for a higher success rate of graduation probably comes from the parents being more involved in their childs education and also the child is more involved in the decision making and has more freedom so long as the work is completed on time.

The nice thing about cyber schooling is that you can do it from anywhere that you have an internet connection available. Takes care of another big debate here on the boards: kids missing school for vacation. With cyber school you can do both without missing any days of school so long as you have an internet connection.

I will be honest it does require a good bit of work from the parent that is doing the teaching. It is not for everyone. Up until 3rd grade the parent has to be there the whole time as you are the teacher. Once they reach 3rd grade however they can do virtual classroom which will change the role that you as a parent play. You will not be the one doing the teaching but you will have to oversee that they get the work done and help them as needed. I was very overwhelmed with it at first due to circumstances more than anything else but once you get a schedule down it gets a whole lot easier. I had a baby at the end of Sept. and no sooner I am home from the hospital I find out that everything is set up and we can begin to cyber school. To top it off I had a c-section so I was in no condt. to be cyber schooling but the school worked with me and we were able to work it out. If I could do it over I would have waited until Jan. to get him started. This way we would have had time to get a routine with the new baby and all. Another nice thing about cyber schooling is that you are not on the brick and mortars time line. You can do school work on holidays and weekends if you so choose. You can pick and choose what days you want to take off. So long as the work gets completed on time. Obviously once virtual classroom starts if that is what you choose it will work differently as they will need to be there for the live instruction.

 

[daughtersrus]

I have never heard of paying for public school. Isn't that what you pay school taxes for? What state do you live in?

We pay "back to school" fees here. Always have. As a matter of fact, when I was in HS in the late 70's-80's, we had to buy our own books like college students do. This was for public school.


The fee currently for the HS where we live is $150 for books, registration and ID. Drivers Ed is not optional (required for graduations) and the fee for that is $150. There's also a "graduation fee" of $30. The optional fees include $30 for each club, $80 for band, $60 for each sport, $60 for parking, $20 to join the National Honor Society...

 

[MrsPete]

Just to clarify for those that do not know cyber schooling and home schooling are actually two different things.

Cyber schooling sounds like a really bad choice for small children. When my girls were in kindergarten, so much of it was about writing practice, singing little learning songs together, using math manipulatives, and learning to be part of a group. I don't see a kindergarten student having th attention span to sit at a computer for an hour or more, and I don't see it as the equivalent of what kids get in the classroom.

An older student who can read and do things on his own -- sure. But I don't see a 5 or 6 year old mastering phonics or learning to form the letter E on paper with computer instruction. I don't see a 5 or 6 year old gaining a concrete understanding of the number 3 from a computer screen.

Obviously, significant parental supervision would have to come into play (I think you said through 3rd grade?). Some parents will do this, while others wouldn't.