The Olathe and De Soto school districts are among those going forward with free, all-day kindergarten for the upcoming school year, without waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the latest school funding bill.
It's exciting news to many parents, especially because it can cost nearly $300 a month.
"It can be a lot of things for different families, whether it's a car payment or setting aside for a vacation or activities. It's important," Crystal Macmillan says.
She has a child going into kindergarten next year.
"It was a great relief to our budget of course," she added.
Free, all-day kindergarten is part of the latest school funding bill that Governor Sam Brownback signed Thursday afternoon.
Ultimately the Supreme Court will rule on the bill, some think around mid-July, but De Soto school district Superintendent Frank Harwood said they can't wait that long.
"In mid-July trying to have kindergarten classrooms ready by August is difficult," Harwood said.
De Soto has already started hiring staff.
Last year 330 out of 473 kindergarteners were already enrolled full-day, so Harwood says it's not a huge adjustment.
But if the Supreme Court somehow did away with that part of the bill, the district would lose $670 thousand dollars in what they collected for full-day kindergarten tuition.
"We'll also have about $200,000 in staffing costs, so you have about $900,000 at risk, and if we had to, we could make it work for a year," Harwood said.
The risk is why other districts, like Basehor-Linwood, are waiting for the Supreme Court ruling. Its all-day kindergarten costs $153.78 a month.
Many other parents are confident with the decision to move forward.
"It put the kids first. For us as parents, education is important. Early childhood education is important and so it makes it a no-brainer," Macmillan said.
The KCK school district has already been offering free, all-day kindergarten because they have more at-risk students. If the funding came from the state directly, spokesperson David Smith said they'd be able to use the money in other areas.
