Ohio S.B. 12, 128^th General Assembly
All-Day Kindergarten Funding
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=128_SB_12

• Provides for full formula state funding for all students enrolled in all-day kindergarten classes in schools operated by school districts and community schools by permitting those students to be counted as one full-time equivalent (FTE) student in student counts used for funding purposes.
• Eliminates the current poverty-based assistance payment for all-day kindergarten, which provides some all-day kindergarten funding to school districts and community schools with relatively high concentrations of poverty.
•   Eliminates a provision permitting school districts to charge families for all-day kindergarten services if the districts do not receive poverty-based assistance for all-day kindergarten.

Introduced by: Senator Tom Sawyer (D), District 28
Co-Sponsors: Roberts, Fedor, R. Miller, Turner, Schiavoni

Under current law, each kindergarten student generally is counted as one-half of one full-time equivalent (FTE) student for purposes of calculating state operating funds for the school district or community school the student attends.  This is based on a presumption in the law that kindergarten students attend school half of the time that students in grades 1 through 12 attend school.  Thus, under the base-cost formula, each kindergarten student accounts for one-half of the full formula amount.

The bill provides for full formula state funding for all students enrolled in all-day kindergarten classes in schools operated by school districts and community schools.  It does this by allowing school districts and community schools to count those students as one FTE student in their student counts used for funding purposes, instead of only one-half FTE as under current law.  "All-day kindergarten" as defined in the bill means a kindergarten class that is in session five days per week for not less than the same number of clock hours each day as for pupils in grades one through six.

This bill also addresses all-day kindergarten payments to community schools, poverty-based assistance, and fees for all-day kindergarten.

Date introduced: 2/10/09
Committee Assigned: Finance & Financial Institutions, Chair: John Carey (R)