Full Day Kindergarten in Massachusetts

Kindergarten in Massachusetts Today

The mandatory school age for children in Massachusetts is six. Current Massachusetts regulations mandate that 425 hours – 2.5 hours per day for the academic school year – of kindergarten be provided by all public school districts and be made available to all children. More and more districts in Massachusetts are able to offer full-day kindergarten, but there is wide variation as to how kindergarten is implemented from district to district. Many of Massachusetts’ kindergarteners still remain in half-day classrooms, and when districts offer full-day kindergarten, there is often a high demand for limited slots, requiring families to submit to a lottery or a waiting list. Additionally, many school districts require families to pay a fee for their children’s participation in full-day kindergarten,and these fees vary widely.

Initiatives Currently Underway in Massachusetts

In Fiscal Year 2000, the Commonwealth began a long-term plan to support cities and towns in the transition to full-day kindergarten programs with the creation of the Massachusetts Department of Education's Kindergarten Development Grant program. With the support of a broad coalition, EEA was able to help secure $10 million in increased investments for Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) Expansion Grants since FY06. Currently 66% of Massachusetts’s kindergartners are in full-day public school kindergarten, up from 38% in FY00.

EEA's Current Work

In order to expand access to full-day kindergarten, EEA is currently advocating for increased funding for the Kindergarten Development Grant Program in the FY09 state budget.