Residents Divided On Full-Day Kindergarten In The Caldwells

CALDWELL, NJ — Full-day kindergarten may soon be coming to the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public School District, but residents remain sharply divided on whether the payoff to students is worth a hike to the school portion of their local taxes.

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Caldwell-West Caldwell community will vote on a ballot question that would fund a “full-day experience” for local kindergarten students starting in September 2019.

The question will read:

“There shall be raised an additional $600,000 for General Funds in the 2018-19 School Year. These taxes will be used to employ additional personnel and to acquire additional supplies in order to implement a full-day kindergarten program. Approval of these taxes will result in a permanent increase in the district’s tax levy. The additional taxes authorized herein will be used exclusively for purposes described herein and to finance expenditures that are in addition to those necessary to achieve the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.”

According to district administrators, if passed, the initiative would pay for five kindergarten teachers and five aides, as well as transportation and supervision. If not passed, the CWC school district will continue to offer the Kindergarten Enrichment Program, funded through parent tuition. (Read school administrators’ full statement about the ballot question here)

According to a statement from CWC school officials, after receiving increased state aid in July 2018, the school tax increase was reduced to 1.7%, or approximately $87 for the average home in the Caldwell - West Caldwell district. The amount of the ballot initiative, $600,000, represents an additional 1.4% increase for 2018-19, which would bring the total tax increase for 2018-19 to 3.1%.

The additional increases in property taxes for 2018-19 would be about $79 for the owner of an average-priced ($420,307) home in Caldwell and about $77 for an average-priced ($437,900) home in West Caldwell, administrators stated.

The $600,000 increase to the tax levy would be permanent. Since Caldwell - West Caldwell is a consolidated district, the tax impact from year to year of these additional funds would vary “depending on a number of factors,” administrators said.

The district will hold information sessions/Open Agenda meetings in the Board of Education conference room on the following dates:

• Tuesday, Sept. 25, 7pm
• Wednesday, Oct. 3, 7pm
• Monday, Oct. 8, 6pm
• Thursday, Oct. 11, 7pm
• Thursday, Nov. 1, 7pm

In addition, CWC Superintendent James Heinegg will attend the HSA meetings at all four elementary schools in October:

• Jefferson: October 9
• Wilson: October 16
• Lincoln: October 17
• Washington: October 24

CRITICS: ‘SCHOOL TAXES ARE HIGH ENOUGH’

While many community members lauded the potential addition of full-day kindergarten, others were much more skeptical. As seen online:

• “Maybe we should have made this a priority before the football field. It’s a lot of money to ask voters for in a small amount of time. If this fails, blame the BOE for their misplaced priorities.”
• “They need to find a way to offset the cost without another tax increase.”
• “In a $49.5 million dollar budget they can't find $600,000 to cut? Give me a break.”
• “It's not just 600,000… the cost of the extra teacher's salary pensions health benefits for many years to come… They are only giving you a small snapshot of the cost think about the years to come it's extremely expensive.”
• “School taxes are high enough. This should be based on if you have children in school. If you do and want this to pass then your taxes should be raised not the taxes of everyone in the town.”
• “As much as I dislike the half-day program we have... I have two kids going through the system starting next year and my husband and I work full time. I grew up with half day kindergarten and as much of an “inconvenience” this is I’d rather spend money on buses or security. Two things that would benefit more people, for a long period of time.”
• “I vote No and have 3 kids coming through the system. They don’t need full-day kindergarten, especially at that permanent cost. The schools are good the way they are!”
• “This is going to vote because last year they made a huge mistake trying to pass a 28.2 million dollar renovation to the middle school and got almost no state funding… One way or another the town is going to keep pushing for kindergarten if this does not pass. And just so you know the ONLY reason it's going to vote is because they exceed the 2% max increase in the budget from the required $600k. If they can somehow figure out a way to get the number under 2% they won’t need our permission. Just keep that in mind this coming election.”

SCHOOL OFFICIALS: LEARNING BENEFITS, IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

According to CWC school officials:

“Although the current Caldwell - West Caldwell kindergarten is excellent, the time frame of two hours and forty-five minutes limits the options we can provide to our students. A full-day program would allow for sufficient time to address the new, more challenging standards which our kindergarteners must meet.”

Administrators added:

“Research on full-day kindergarten has also shown that it helps to foster students social, emotional, and behavioral well-being. Students in full-day programs have been found to have improved self-regulation or “executive function skills,” such as working memory, cognitive flexibility, and the ability to control one’s attention and behavior. Finally, there is evidence that suggests that there are economic benefits to investing in early education programs. In addition to potential property value increases from the addition of full-day kindergarten, economic analyses have shown that investing in young children can promote higher economic growth by improving the skills of the workforce.”

CWC school administrators issued the following statement about the “implementation plan” for the full-day kindergarten proposal:

“The district currently operates a tuition-based “Kindergarten Enrichment Program” (KEP) at Harrison School for 115 kindergarteners. The original plan for the 2019-20 implementation, if the ballot initiative were to pass, was simply to expand the KEP model for all of the district’s students. However, it has become apparent that the limit on the KEP model, due to transportation and other logistical issues, would be approximately 120 students. The plan has therefore been amended to provide for full-day classes at each of the four K-5 buildings, with five additional classes at Harrison School. Students would not be bussed from building to building, as currently happens with KEP."

If the ballot question is approved on November 6, the timeline would be as follows:

• From November through August, the district would renovate classrooms and bathrooms in Harrison School in order to meet state facilities requirements.
• From January through August, district teachers and administrators would complete curriculum revisions to reflect the full day schedule.
• From March through May, the district would conduct personnel searches to recruit and hire additional teachers.
• From March through June, the district would complete the assignment of students, most likely involving the use of a lottery, to determine placements.

“While the enrollment of kindergarten students in buildings other than their ‘home’ schools is not ideal, it appears to be the most feasible plan for initial implementation of full-day kindergarten in the district,” administrators said.

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