Northport-East Northport Schools May Offer Full-Day Kindergarten

Northport and East Northport parents advocating for full-day kindergarten in the district may finally see that change in the 2015-16 academic year.

On Monday, the district put forth a preliminary school budget of $159.7 million that would accommodate full-day kindergarten and stay within the tax cap.

The proposed budget would include $825,000 for full-day kindergarten, and maintains all existing instructional, athletic and extracurricular programs.

However, under this budget, the district would eliminate nine positions, including one administrative, two secondary teaching, two special-education teaching, two teaching assistants, one computer technician, and one clerical.

Spending in for the 2015-16 school year would see a budget-to-budget increase of .348 percent.

Parents have been calling on the Northport-East Northport School District as well as government officials to implement full-day kindergarten for the community. They had issued a petition on change.org that gained momentum to switch to a full-day program.

The budget is currently a work-in-progress. The school board will hold a hearing on the finalized budget on May 11 at W.J. Brosnan School.

The budgets goes before voters on May 19.

How do you feel about bringing full-day kindergarten to the district? Tell us in the comments.

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