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Senate rejects measure authorizing fee-based optional extended-day kindergarten (HB 41)
Summary
House Bill 41, which would have allowed local districts and charter schools to charge permissive fees for optional extended-day kindergarten with safeguards to ensure no student is denied participation, failed in the Senate on a roll-call vote after senators raised concerns about the relationship to free public education and funding implications.
The Senate considered House Bill 41, which would permit local school boards or charter boards to offer optional supplemental hours of instruction for kindergarten and charge fees to cover incremental costs while requiring waivers so no child is excluded for inability to pay.
Sponsor Senator Milner said the bill is permissive and is intended to provide a financing mechanism for districts that choose to offer expanded academic kindergarten hours. She said fees could not exceed the cost of the program, schools could not profit, and districts must adopt fee schedules that ensure access for students who cannot pay.
Several senators raised concerns that permitting fees for an educational program risks encroaching on the principle of free public education and could create unintended consequences if schools came to rely on fee revenues or expand programs primarily in districts that can pay. Senators asked about who brought the measure (Canyon School District) and whether the program might lead to increased requests for additional weighted pupil unit (WPU) funding; the sponsor said the program is optional and districts would evaluate financial feasibility.
On roll call the Senate reported the measure as having received 11 yay, 14 nay and 4 absent and the bill failed and will be returned to the House for filing.
