To the editor:

The athletic field improvements to LHS and FSHS are around $15 million. The Lawrence school board cuts for 2009-10 are more than $2.5 million.

I’m among the growing number of parents wondering how the district justifies a $15 million expenditure on football fields, while continuing to cut into academic programs. A point of contention is the lack of districtwide, full-day kindergarten. Studies done by the Indiana DOE indicate many benefits of full-day kindergarten:

• significant progress in literacy, math, general learning skills, and social skills;

• more appropriate challenges for children at all developmental levels, resulting in social and academic benefits;

• the number of transitions kindergartners face in a typical day can be reduced.

Nearly every parent I’ve spoken to wants districtwide full-day kindergarten. Most are willing to pay the extra $70 or more to have our kids in a full-day kindergarten class if that’s what it’d take.

Many of our kids have been in either full-day preschool or child care. I fail to see the logic of having a child accustomed transition to half-day kindergarten, then back to full-day first grade, given the research.

Multiple trips to school to pick up our kids at different times only makes matters worse. So, somebody tell us how we can afford to put artificial turf on football fields but can’t afford full-day kindergarten. As I see it, the cost-benefit analysis just doesn’t add up.