Difficulties in Reconciling the Political Rhetoric & Claims with the Research & Realities of All-Day Kindergarten

Joe Enge, Education Analyst, Nevada Policy Research Institute
Presentation to the Assembly Ways & Means Committee
May 3, 2007

Research Issues: Short lists of citations with major omissions of critical studies & peer reviews

• The booklet titled “Full-Day Kindergarten in Nevada: Learning to Learn” dated March 12, 2007 symbolizes the shallow, simplistic, & facile approach to this entire issue by proponents.

• Who put this booklet together? Who deserves the credit for it is an amalgamation of information from the Assembly Speaker’s Office, Nevada Association of School Boards, Nevada Association of School Superintendents, Clark County School District, & the Washoe County School District. No author is listed. Why? Who paid for it?

• Comparison & contrast of booklet citations and NPRI’s, publicly released (as of today) bibliography on the subject.

• Questions regarding the credibility of the Clark County School District study & figures as noted by the LV R-J in its March 3, 2007 editorial

“But the most important fact here is that the Clark County School District is now revealed to be not an objective and reliable judge and arbiter when it comes to measuring the efficacy of all-day kindergarten, but rather a lobbyist for said program, willing and able to message and manipulate facts and findings to get this endeavor approved.”

Political rhetoric to paint a false image & make unsubstantiated claims in the media

• Statements such as “we need to invest in the front end (all-day K) instead of the expensive back end (prison system) conveys a false linkage. I am not aware of a single study that links all-day K to a reduction of incarceration rates.

• Where are the studies that show any impact all-day K has on drop out rates or college remediation rates?

• Given our salient education problems are at the secondary level with drop out rates, remediation rates, and lack of CTE, why are we pushing this issue?

• If we were in a position of a major surplus for projected revenue, all-day K would be questionable, wasteful, & ill-advised. Given we have projections of lower future revenue, pursuing this path comes across as down right silly & bizarre.

Public Mischaracterizations of K-12 Spending & Governor’s Budget

• The governor’s office reports to me his budget will increase K-12 spending by 13%. K-12 spending makes up 35% of the total budget, which is over $2 billion. The requested cuts by his office in spending increases have not been in the K-12 area. Governor Gibbons has made their budget immune.

• Yet, statements by Assemblyman Arberry do not reflect this reality.

Ray Hagar reported yesterday, “How do you cut what has already been cut,” said Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. “K-12 does not have any money. They have always been the stepchild of the budget, so we’ve got to do what we can to make sure teachers don’t leave the work force. We got to do what we can to try and get them some tools.”

Conclusion

• I ask this committee to read the valid research on all-day K, keep in mind our most pressing shortcomings in education are at the secondary level, recognize we are increasing spending in education, and focus our finite resources to address these problems instead of funding this “pet project” of so little merit.

Comments