Sometimes it's a matter of keeping students from attending elsewhere. About 25 percent of the children living in the Brandywine School District in Wilmington attend a private-school kindergarten before graduating to a public school's first grade, says Wade Emsley, the district's supervisor of learning. Last year, the board surveyed current and prospective kindergartners' parents and learned that 72 percent wanted full-day kindergarten. A pilot program in six schools starts in September. For one, there's the free or considerably reduced day care.
Parents get a break.
But that disgusts Tammy Holcomb of Wilmington, Del., who argued against Brandywine's pilot program. Even so, many working parents can't afford day care or the transportation from school to another facility. Md. Parents against full-day kindergarten may need a reality check, Bower says. Things have changed. Others are single parents.