Full-day kindergarten highlights education legislation

    Education legislation played a major role for many lawmakers in the 2019 session, and it also topped the agenda for new Gov. Jared Polis.
    On May 21, Polis signed into law the education bill that had some of the most bipartisan support among lawmakers in 2019: making full-day kindergarten free for parents throughout the state.
    House Bill 1262 won unanimous Senate approval on April 26 and final House approval on April 30 with a 55-10 vote (Republican Rep. Rod Pelton of Cheyenne Wells voted “yes”).
    Polis signed the bill in a ceremony at Stedman Elementary School in Denver. In a statement, Polis said families will no longer have to choose “between paying for kindergarten or making rent. This will save families thousands of dollars each year and open the door for others who could not afford it.”
    Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been trying for years to make full-day kindergarten, paid for by the state, a reality. It was initially part of legislation in 2008 but never had a chance to be implemented because of the Great Recession. The most the state could do was to pay for half-day kindergarten, eventually at 58 percent of a full day.
    Many school districts do offer full-day kindergarten, with the balance paid for either by parents (at a cost, some said, as much as $500 per month), or voters approve a mill levy override to pay for it, as they did in the Brush school district. Still other districts just use their state funds to pay for the rest.
    The cost, at $175 million per year, is still an issue. Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee have raised concerns about whether the funding is sustainable, especially if the state hits another recession.

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