All thirteen of New Hampshire’s cities now offer full-day kindergarten. On Monday night, Concord became the final city to join the list.
The Concord school board has been debating full-day kindergarten for years. The election of new board members, along with new funding from the state, finally tipped the scales.
Board member Chuck Crush says he’s excited for what a full-day program will mean for kids and for economic development in the city.
“It certainly will benefit Concord from an economic standpoint. If I’m going to locate a business somewhere, one of the key components for my employees I’m going to look for is education.”
Crush also says he's heard from families who say the half-day program kept them from being able to have two incomes.
“When their child got home from half-a-day, there was no one home to take care of them. So they were having to make the hard decision, which one of them would have that loss of income, in order to be at home for their children.”
Statewide, nearly 90% of school districts now offer full-day kindergarten programs.
