Students do better in full-day programs because they’re given more time to focus on activities. (Half-day kindergarten teachers often complain they feel like there’s not enough time to cram in all the needed lessons in half-day programs.)

Although full-day kindergarten is typically more expensive to fund up front, it actually saves money in the long run. Studies show for every dollar spent, the state will save $3. That’s because full-day leads to lower grade retention and drop-out rates later in life.

Parents and teachers prefer it. The NEA cites a 2000 study that showed 100 percent of full-day parents and 72 percent of half-day parents would choose or continue to choose full-day kindergarten if their district provided a program.

Like a lot of issues in Idaho education these days, it comes down to cost. The state is only now restoring education funding levels to pre-recession figures, and that doesn’t account for the rapid population growth that has crammed even more kids into Idaho classrooms. The same amount of money plus more students means those dollars don’t stretch quite as far as they did in 2009.

So if the state can barely pay for the education system we have now, how in the world is it supposed to come up with more money to fund kindergarten?