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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2011 > February > 23 > Entry
Editorial: Why is kindergarten political hot potato?
It takes some doing to politicize kindergarten.
Didn’t the best-selling book, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” settle the debate about its value? Doesn’t everybody have fond memories of that formative school experience?
Ohio’s legislature, however, is on a tear about it. The Ohio House last week voted 59-36 — with just one Democrat joining Republicans — to revoke the requirement imposed by former Gov. Ted Strickland (and the last legislature) that all school districts soon begin offering all-day, tuition-free kindergarten.
That mandate — it was a mandate, and an unfunded one, to boot — was among the more high-profile pieces of Mr. Strickland’s package of changes for schools.
The Senate and Gov. John Kasich are expected to endorse the House’s decision.
Here’s what’s getting lost in the discussion:
Almost everybody agrees that all-day kindergarten is a good thing — that research shows kids who have the experience are less likely to fall behind. It’s especially important for children who are poor or who don’t come from homes where education is honored.
When the Strickland plan was adopted, business groups, including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association and the Ohio Business Roundtable, all were supportive of it, especially the kindergarten piece. (The roundtable is made up of a group of chief executives from the state’s major businesses.)
They were sold on the argument that there would be a return on the financial investment.
Even the school districts that oppose the requirement say they’d like to offer all-day kindergarten — if they could afford it. They might not make it their first priority if their community is well-off and parents already are sending their children to first grade ready to tackle first-grade material. But they’d still like to have kindergarteners for a longer period of time.
Insisting that kindergarten must be a priority — even without putting up money for it — was not absurd. After all, it’s not as if districts don’t have some financial discretion; and they do get a lot of money from the state that isn’t specifically dedicated.
Certainly, there are plenty of people in this legislature who believe that schools have options — and even that they’re spending money on some of the wrong things. That’s what many of the pending changes to the collective-bargaining law are all about. Lawmakers think school boards have gone overboard in the contracts they’ve agreed to; those choices, they reason, have driven up the cost of educating kids.
At the end of the day, lawmakers are not just rejecting an unfunded mandate. They are making (bad) education policy. And they are limiting the state’s role in deciding how state money will be spent.
It’s a decision that looks like it is rooted in overturning the last governor’s agenda, not a decision rooted in best practices.
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