Last 10 School Districts Open Public Kindergarten

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Inside a classroom at Jacques Memorial School in Milford, teacher Nadine Tourlitis is getting her kindergarteners ready for story time.
317 :13 singing..books away, books away, put the books away..under)
Tourlitis is one of five new kindergarten teachers at Jacques, a school that formerly housed only first-graders.
For her, teaching kindergarteners in a public school in Milford for the first time is…
316 :10 (really loud) it’s fabulous (laughs) it’s fabulous, we’re so excited to have it…
Tourlitis also lives in Milford, where the debate over whether to offer free kindergarten has been raging for more than ten years.
316 3:07 “I thought it was a shame that it kept getting voted down, every year you’d see it on the ballot and it always missed by a margin so to see it finally here is just a great thing”
In 2007, when legislators defined what an adequate education entailed, and what programs should be offered, kindergarten was on the list.
Before then, it had always been a local decision.
State Senator and Milford School Board Chair Peter Bragdon.
328 1:52 the town was always split on the issue, it’s not that they didn’t value kindergarten or public kindergarten but they felt the private systems that were operating were doing an adequate job, and why should the whole town pay for something that was working pretty well.
The state offered to pay 75-percent of construction costs for permanent classrooms and help pay for portable rentals.
That made it easier for some districts to offer public kindergarten, but many people still believe the decision was wrong.
In Milford, Representative Gary Daniels, a former School Board member, is one of them.
2:18 the thing that I have always been opposed to is unfunded mandates by the state and I still contend that this is an unfunded mandate it is an expansion of an existing program without totally paying for it
The Hudson school district even took the state to court over the issue, but withdrew the lawsuit after a judge refused the district’s injunction request.
Teachers and parents can be the biggest advocates for kindergarten.
Back at Jacques school in Milford, teacher Nadine Tourlitis says first grade teachers will tell you there is a huge difference between kids who’ve gone to kindergarten and those who haven’t.
316 1:54 you had some that were coming in with skills that they were ready to go and some that really needed to get that extra boost to get them where they needed to be.
Kindergarten Parent Melissa Mahony says she thinks daycare can sometimes focus more on social skills than academic, which was her older daughter’s experience.
323 :45 She came out not knowing how to read, not knowing how to write her name, so that was very disappointing to me, I just didn’t like that aspect.
Ma-HA-ne says that’s not the case in the new public kindergarten.
2:30 when I asked him how his first day went he was like, oh it was good, but they didn’t let me play with toys, I’m like honey you have to go to school to learn..you can come home and play with toys (laughs) so he’s liking it.
Jacques school had some challenges in squeezing 140 kindergarten students in existing classrooms.
Principal John Foss says portables will be set up for the library and music which is now sits on a cart.
But Foss couldn’t be happier with his school, especially now that kindergartners are part of the picture.
“It’s a gift it’s a wonderful place to be, you can see it, I just love this place, Jacques Memorial School, it’s a great place to be, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.