District 196 Official: "We Are Behind" on Early Childhood Education
District 196 officials are united in their support for more early childhood education programming, but logistics aren't in their favor.
When it comes to early childhood education, School District 196 has a lot of catching up to do. Only 6 percent of the incoming kindergarten students in the district have participated in a District 196 program for 4-year-olds, compared to 20 percent of incoming students in Prior Lake, 30 percent in Burnsville and 44 percent in Lakeville, District 196 Director of Elementary Education Julie Olson told school board members last week. On April 22, Olson presented the board with findings from task force asked to evaluate the district's early education needs. The verdict? "We know that we have a number of obstacles to face as a district, both in terms of funding and in terms of space," Olson said. "Our programming is limited, especially as we …
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Lisa Schmidt
12:05 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
When we moved to MN five years ago, I couldn't believe there wasn't full day kindergarten. We have had children attend K in both Iowa and WI and both had full day K. It is crazy that full day K is as much as private school tuition. I am sure it's still a great deal if you are already paying for daycare, but otherwise, not so much. more ›