Voters To Decide Full-Day Kindergarten's Fate In Wayne Tuesday

WAYNE, N.J. — Voters will decide whether or not to bring full-day kindergarten to the district just as proponents of the move make one last push for its implementation and a Board of Education trustee states that full-day kindergarten will ruin the district.

It is the second time in two years residents are voting on the issue. Residents voted the matter down last year by hundreds of votes. The Board of Education voted in September to not implement the program, but instead to put the issue to voters again. A tuition-based supplemental program was implemented at some district schools this year as an alternative to the full-day program.

Tracy Rozansky and a dedicated group of parents continue to encourage others to answer yes to the ballot question of whether or not an additional $2.1 million should be raised to implement the program in September in the only school Passaic County school district that does not have full-day kindergarten.

RELATED: Wayne Full-Day Kindergarten Voted Down

Of the $2.1 million, $2 million of it would pay for additional staff and professional development to expand the half-day program to a full-day, which would result in a permanent tax levy increase, according to the district.

Rozansky and others have advocated that adding the program would greatly increase classroom instruction time and boosting their scores on standardized tests taken later in students' academic careers.

"Several studies have shown children in full-day kindergarten classes have greater reading and mathematics achievement than in half day classes," Rozansky said. "A full-day [of kindergarten] would increase reading instruction by at least 30 percent and math instruction by 40 percent in Wayne over our existing two-and-a-half hour program."

RELATED: Wayne Board Of Education Decides: No Full-Day Kindergarten In September

Implementing the program would cost the average homeowner $93 this year.

"This equates to about 6 pizzas per year. Studies show the investment in early childhood programs generate returns of $3 saved for every $1 invested," Rozansky said. "This means lower grade retention and decreased need for remediation. As a taxpayer myself who knows that our taxes are inevitably going up, this is clearly money well spent to save us money on the back end to make up for what our students are not getting early on."

Implementing the program would not mean that extracurricular programs, including sports teams, at the middle and high schools would be shut down. According to a feasibility study from February 2015, no new classrooms or construction projects would be needed to implement the program.

"Voting yes to full-day kindergarten is an investment to our strong community and will add value to our entire school system," Rozansky said.

Tuesday's vote is eight days after board trustee Robert Ceberio, who is not seeking re-election, posted on Facebook that the ticket of Zoltan Herskovic, Julia Hillje-Dardia, and Joseph Marshall, would, if elected, implement full-day kindergarten and "turn the school district into chaos."

"If they win, we will lose our superintendent, directors, and great teachers who will not sit by and watch the district get destroyed," Ceberio stated.

Rozansky is backing Herskovic, Hillje-Dardia, and Marshall, stating that they are "fierce advocates for our kids while questioning where our tax dollars are really going."

Herskovic, Hillje-Dardia, stated Marshall stated that if the measure is voted down, they "will not insist it be in the budget for the 2016-17 school year."

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