Letter from Supt. Rainwater to Gov. Doyle on 4-Year Old Kindergarten

May 15, 2008

Governor Jim Doyle
115 East — State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702

Dear Governor Doyle,

I am requesting that you use your partial veto powers to improve the unnecessarily restrictive 4-year old kindergarten language contained in the budget repair bill.

The provision allows for a 5-year phase-in of 4K programs only for school districts that are operating a 4K program during the 2007-08 school year. This language would only benefit a handful of school districts. Allowing all school districts to phase-in 4K programs would assist districts, such as Madison, in potentially moving forward with 4K programs and assist your laudable goal of expanded early childhood opportunities for our state's children.

Madison Schools has worked with local child care providers to lay the groundwork for a 4K program, but is substantially stymied by funding problems. The inequity in K4 funding should be fixed in the 2009-2011 biennial budget. It is fundamentally wrong for a Milwaukee voucher school to be able to start a 4K program and September and receive the full state reimbursement by the following June — public schools should have the same opportunity.

Please veto the 4K language to allow all school districts the opportunity to phase in a 4K program over a 5-year period. Thank you for your steadfast support of K-12 public education.

Sincerely,

Art Rainwater
Superintendent

C: Madison state legislative delegation