Parents to Pay for Kindergarten

Where is this happening? In california we are moving toward free pre schools.

It seems to me then that locally they are not regarding kindergarten as part of "real school" but more like a nursery school or pre school, which have always been fee based. That does not match up with my experience of what kindergarten is, at least locally. Locally Kdg. is where children master pre-reading to reading skills, they are recognizing words, not just letters. Kids come out of kindergarten knowing numbers and basic one digit addition, possibly subtraction. I have not heard of any schools in my state requiring payment for kindergarten. Now a lot of people say that because we charge textbook fees for all levels except pre kindergarten, that we do not have free education in my state even now. I have really mixed feelings. Maybe the thought is that if something must be paid for it would be more valued by the people who receive it. I am not saying that it is right, but I would question where my tax dollars are going if it is not for education.

I don't think kindergarten is required by the state, and therefore someone is seeing it as a money making opportunity - since many people would be paying for day care they must figure the same people will pay money for the kids to get an education. Of course, it may come back and bite them in the butt, when people decide not to send them and then more kids end up doing a pre-first or repeating first.

It does look that way that free education will be a thing of the past...on the other end of the spectrum...I went to Queens College of the City University Of NY system...it was well, kind of free...I was able to get grants to help with expenses....there were the books and supplies expenses and they did charge a small "college fee" maybe $100??..that is until the very last term I went...over night it went to that $100 college fee to nearly $1,000 for just one term..not year,-- term..I had to scramble fast to get a college loan..so much for free college either.. :( Can't even imagine what private colleges charge...

Actually, until quite recently, a kindergarten "education" was pay-as -you-go in the Midwestern US where I was raised. My parents could not afford it therefore I was not allowed to go to kindergarten. In retrospect, I see that as a pretty good thing. I am not convinced that children learn much of value in most kindergartens regardless of who pays. Of course, increasingly, that can also be said of many of the other grades of "school" as well. It is also true that at no time during my first 12 years of school did any children get free lunch. When I sat in the cafeteria smelling the hot food the "rich" kids got to eat, and choked down my skinny 1/2 sandwich on plain bread, I resolved to work harder and learn faster and evolve into a person with more personal power. It wasn't pleasant, but it sure as heck built character. Now looking back after so many years, that sort of thing didn't mean much in the greater scheme of things. I'm afraid that "equal opportunity" doesn't mean that everyone gets to be the same. I think for me it meant that if I put up with a certain amount of indignity and worked twice as hard as everyone else, there would be a chance of bettering myself.

I think each school district is different. Like the school in the next town? They either don't have to pay a school fee or for school supplies, I can't remember which. But then where were are, we have to not only spend money on school supplies, but also have to pay a fee. And if that fee doesn't get paid, the kids don't get their report cards. And if they are a senior and don't have their fee's paid, they don't get their diploma..

That's not surprising for us here in India where we have to pay huge amounts for kindergarten and schools (private).

You are lucky to live in a place where this has come now, In India this has become the most lucrative business as the working women are increasing and for keeping their children in kindergarten sometimes they have to pay more as compared to school going children's fees.

My Children are 20 and 23 now but even when they went to Kindergarden I had to pay so this side of the World it has always been the case But there are still a few places in the UK where Parents do not have to pay but I think that it could happen soon that you have to pay for the Children to go to School it is getting terrible with the Education Side of things I agree with you

I think that's insane. Every child has the right to free and appropriate public education. Kindergarten here is required. Every child has to start there and work their way up. So, maybe here that is why education is free. I don't know. Can't say I know much about your state or other states, but I still think that paying for education, unless it's college, that is insane.

It is already happening. There are private schools all over.But trying to get poor people to pay for kindergarten?They can't afford it, so they won't and their kids will be behind.So instead of having a whole class starting at the same time at the same level, the will be many that will be far behind.What also will happen, there will be more money that will need to taken out of State's budgets to help.And there will be more people that will need help than ones who have good jobs and can pay taxes to help.

i thingk so this should not be haapen beacuse , if our parents will pay us then nothing would be remaining

Well, this could be good and bad. Everyone is entitled to k-12 education, and some cannot afford to pay. But perhaps if we are directly paying for our kids education, then the general populace will care more about what the students are learning. And maybe schools can finally get the supplies they need and teachers can start getting a decent salary. I think our education system needs a complete overhaul cause students are not learning anything, not really even in college. And we are falling behind other countries in education and technology. We desperately need to do something about it before we are knocked off the top of the foodchain.

I hope not. because a lot of people will be affected with this implementations. Education is a necessities. But as we look at the prices going up in different needs in everyday life ..how can we cover all of those if they add the expense in education systems that are meant to be free.

Most probably yes. In my country the kindergarten is very expensive and I think some of it is more expensive than the primary and secondary schools. We have smart reader kids which takes around RM200 per month for the education bills. However we still have the government kindergarten which doesn't require us to pay a big amount of bill, nevertheless we still have to pay. Now in our country education is no longer free because even though our examination fees have been exempted we still have to pay for school uniforms, books, etc. Even though now we have the lending book scheme, we still want our own books to refer to for examination purpose. All these need money.

That's one of the most outrageous things I've ever heard. Right now, at a time when several of the Presidential candidates are proposing mandatory pre-school because studies have proven children do better throughout their school years if they start earlier and now they're talking about charging for kindergarten? Obviously there will be lots of families who won't be able to afford to pay for it so there will be thousands of children "left behind". God help us if we are nearing the end of a free education system. I hope all the parents in your area protest against this with all their power because if something like this gets started it will surely snowball into one big disaster. Annie