State Funds All-Day Kindergarten at Four Lake Washington Schools this Fall

Expands to all schools in 2016-17

Redmond, Wash. – Four Lake Washington School District (LWSD) elementary schools will provide tuition-free all-day kindergarten to its students this fall thanks to new state funding. Those four schools are Einstein Elementary (Redmond), Frost Elementary (Kirkland), Muir Elementary (Kirkland) and Rose Hill Elementary (Kirkland). About 72% of kindergarten students statewide will be eligible for state funded all-day kindergarten in 2015-16.

For this school year, families who opt for all-day kindergarten in the 27 other district elementary schools will still pay for the second half of the school day. State funding pays only for half-day kindergarten in other district schools. Half-day kindergarten remains free to families in those 27 other schools.

The budget recently passed by the state legislature included the increased funding for all-day kindergarten that will allow the addition of four LWSD schools in 2015-16. It also included full funding for all-day kindergarten in all public schools in the 2016-17 school year.

The state of Washington gradually has been increasing the number of schools in the state that are funded for all-day kindergarten since 2007-08. They began with funding for schools with the highest level of poverty. This is the first year that any school in Lake Washington School District has received state funding for all-day kindergarten. The state is moving toward all-day kindergarten because research shows it offers opportunities for long-term educational gains, especially in the areas of reading and mathematics.