Einstein among four LWSD schools to receive all-day kindergarten funding from state
Published 12:08 pm Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Four Lake Washington School District (LWSD) elementary schools — including one in Redmond — will provide tuition-free all-day kindergarten to its students this fall thanks to new state funding.
The school in Redmond is Albert Einstein Elementary School. The remaining three schools are Robert Frost, John Muir and Rose Hill elementary schools in Kirkland.
About 72 percent of kindergarten students statewide will be eligible for state funded all-day kindergarten in the 2015-16 school year.
For this school year, families who opt for all-day kindergarten in the 27 other LWSD elementary schools will still pay for the second half of the school day. State funding pays only for half-day kindergarten in other district schools. Half-day kindergarten remains free to families in those 27 other schools.
The budget recently passed by the state legislature included the increased funding for all-day kindergarten that will allow the addition of four LWSD schools in 2015-16. It also included full funding for all-day kindergarten in all public schools in the 2016-17 school year.
The state of Washington gradually has been increasing the number of schools in the state that are funded for all-day kindergarten since 2007-08. It began with funding for schools with the highest level of poverty. This is the first year that any school in LWSD has received state funding for all-day kindergarten. The state is moving toward all-day kindergarten because research shows it offers opportunities for long-term educational gains, especially in the areas of reading and mathematics.
