REALITY CHECK: ALL DAY KINDERGARTEN

Tiverton is one of the few RI communities without All Day Kindergarten, despite a consensus that it is an important educational goal. It is not currently included in the School Department's plans for the upcoming school year, and some parents are understandably upset about this. Unfortunately, some are misinformed and mistakenly blame the School Committee for this situation.

The simple fact is that the reason for the delay of All Day K was the outcome of the May 16 Financial Town Referendum vote. The School Committee and Budget Committee put forth a budget that funded all priorities, including ADK, for a small tax increase. Petitioner Justin Katz, a longtime opponent of public education, cynically put forth an alternative budget that cut the funds intended for ADK. He and his allies spent thousands to push this plan. Despite warnings from the School Committee that approval of Katz's plan would jeopardize ADK, a majority of the 20% of voters who turned out to vote approved it. 80% of voters stayed home.

Katz had falsely claimed that the School Department had huge surpluses that could fund ADK. The School Department had made clear that these funds were in fact spoken for, and that Katz's budget cuts had eliminated any rainy day funds. Still, Mr. Katz continues to deceive anxious parents with baseless claims that the School Committee is playing politics. All Mr. Katz has ever done is use our students as political pawns, and this is his latest chapter.

Anyone paying attention would know that the School Committee has fought hard to fund ADK for years, often thwarted by shortsighted budget cuts endorsed by Mr. Katz. They fought hard for the Budget Committee budget to insure they could fund ADK. But Mr. Katz is now attempting to use parents to pressure the School Committee to play one group of students against another, since the only way to fund ADK is to take funds from somewhere else. The School Committee has properly rejected this attempt to hurt one student to help another. But Katz continues to point fingers at others and create fantasies of hidden money to cover up the damage he caused.

So who killed All Day K? Simply put, it was Justin Katz and his allies, as well as all who voted for his proposal's shortsighted cuts to save a few dollars, and the 80% of voters who didn't take the opportunity to vote in support of ADK. 

No doubt the School Committee will continue to seek ways to fund ADK that don't involve recklessly stealing funds from other needs. Unlike Mr. Katz, their priority is students, not political agendas. They'll need the support of those who are only now realizing the destructiveness of Mr. Katz's budget scheme. Mr. Katz succeeded in getting his irresponsible plan passed, but now he has to grow up and take responsibility for the consequences and stop blaming and deceiving others for his actions.

Brian Medeiros
Tiverton, RI