Madison, Wis. (WHBL) - Madison’s school superintendent says it’s “very troubling” that a G-O-P lawmaker wants to prevent the city’s district and others from starting four-year-old kindergarten. Senate Republican Glenn Grothman of West Bend said yesterday that the state should stop paying for new programs like those planned for Madison. Grothman said taxpayers cannot afford them. And he cited a study showing that fourth-graders in Oklahoma and Georgia continue to have poor test scores, more than a decade after those states began four-year-old kindergarten. But Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad said there are plenty of studies which show it’s a good idea to invest in youngsters as early as possible. Beth Graue of U-W Madison cites a 2005 Northstar Economics study showing that every dollar spent on four-year-old kindergarten saves 68-cents elsewhere – because early childhood education reduces the need for more expensive special-ed programs. Lawmakers tried twice to drop state funding for four-year-old kindergarten – but Republican Governor Scott McCallum vetoed it in 2001, and Democrat Jim Doyle did the same in ’03. Eighty-five percent of Wisconsin school systems now have four-year-old kindergarten – and over 40-thousand youngsters are enrolled statewide.
