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You’re right in that pre-school isn’t necessary to be successful, but I think that it’s a good way to ease kids into elementary school and to gain experience in socialization and educational fundamentals.
I'm thinking you must have been looking at Preschools and not Child Care centers.
Preschools run on basically the same calendar as the public schools around them. They usually are open from end August/Beginning September through May, don't always offer a full 5 days and their hours are often not a full day.
Child Care centers are meant for those who need full day, year round care. You rarely will find a center that closes for anything more than the basic holidays.
yes, I was thinking the same, my son was in daycare from the time he was 12 weeks old and I never experienced the kind of schedule the OP was talking about. When he was 4, he had a pre-k program in his daycare center. They also offered a private kindergarten, but he switched over to the elementary school at that point, since it was after he turned 5.
Well yeah! I could have offered to pay college tuition amounts to DISD and still my child couldn't attend pre-k at her elementary. It wasn't an option, period. That this is happening in some districts really has me thinking, is it ethical? Truly legal? What if you're a family that falls between being able to afford this and and those less fortunate? I understand the less fortunate side, district is attempting to get those kids up to speed because they are at a disadvantage.
Some districts offer tuition based PreK. In Dallas ISD for example, certain schools are offering tuition based PreK to get "rich" families into those schools. For example, Robert E Lee / Geneva Heights elementary now has tuition based PreK so that the "wealthy" families near the school can try it out the district hopes they will then stay for Kindergarten (which is obviously free for all).
It's not clear which district the OP lives in but the truly wealthy districts (Highland Park and Carroll) probably don't have PreK at all since there are effectively no disadvantaged people there.
I'm reading about it online now. Wow. My child's elementary is on the list of schools offering tuition based pre K.
Well yeah! I could have offered to pay college tuition amounts to DISD and still my child couldn't attend pre-k at her elementary. It wasn't an option, period. That this is happening in some districts really has me thinking, is it ethical? Truly legal? What if you're a family that falls between being able to afford this and and those less fortunate? I understand the less fortunate side, district is attempting to get those kids up to speed because they are at a disadvantage.
Though I don't know Texas law, I seriously doubt the SD would do something blatantly illegal that they could get hauled into court for an expensive, messy battle. I think the ethics of it are that it's OK to provide services for kids with special needs. Just my 2c.
I live in Texas and teach preschool. Free, public preschool is only provided in the following circumstances in Texas: children with a parent who is active military, children with a diagnosed special need, children for whom English is not their first language, and children who are economically disadvantaged. Some (very few, actually) school districts open up their preschool programs who children outside of these considerations, but it is not free for them. Most families send their kids to private preschool.
That's what kindergarten used to be for. Now it's preschool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by germaine2626
In Wisconsin, 98.3% of communities offer free Four Year Old Kindergarten in public schools.
I know our Milwaukee suburb public school offers K-4 and K-5 (4 year old kindergarden, i.e. preschool, and 5 year old kindergarten). We didn't get here until our youngest was in 1st grade so I'm not positive on the numbers but I assume it's free public school but we also pay school fees. I'm guessing k-4 and k-5 is under $100 for the year.
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