Weymouth To Receveive $250K To Implement Full-Day Kindergarten

WEYMOUTH, MA — Weymouth Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Curtis-Whipple said Weymouth Public Schools will use $250,000 the town is receiving from the state senate's $1.1 billion supplement budget recently passed to help fund the new universal pre-kindergarten pilot program.

Curtis-Whipple thanked Sen. Patrick O'Connor for his efforts in securing the funds.

"The Weymouth School District would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Sen. O'Connor and his office for their procurement of funds that will help supplement the costs of our district's pilot tuition-free full-day kindergarten program," Superintendent Curtis-Whipple said. "We are extremely excited to join other Massachusetts school communities in offering universal full-day kindergarten to our community members. This program has been years in the making and will benefit our students, our district and our community members immensely."

The program will be free and will eliminate the lottery system the town district used for its previous program.

"The Weymouth School Committee and Superintendent's Office worked hard to bring universal full-day kindergarten to Weymouth, and we couldn't be more excited to roll out our pilot program this fall," School Committee Chair Lisa Belmarsh said. "Universal full-day kindergarten plays an essential role in increasing access to education and educational support services for all students, especially those children who may require early intervention services."

Weymouth Public Schools said 400 families have signed up for the program.

"The district had previously made a promise to families that the full-day kindergarten program would begin this fall, and I'm extremely pleased to say that we have followed through with this," Curtis-Whipple said. "We were unwilling to go back on our promise, even in the midst of financial uncertainty surrounding the 2021 fiscal year budget. With the funding Sen. O'Connor secured for his hometown of Weymouth, we will have additional funds within our district to allocate towards this program."