One of the big topics of the 2024 legislative session is education.

Senator for District 12 Amy Sinclair says that besides the bill on everyone’s mind about Area Education Agencies, another one that has been making progress would allow schools to offer full day classes for preschoolers. She mentions that this is a topic that dates back to her time as the Chair of the Education Committee, but that the data at the time from Vanderbilt University didn’t hold much in the way of proving the merit of longer days.

Sinclair explains that the Des Moines Public School District was often the one coming to her about lengthening days for preschool, and tells Raccoon Valley Radio that they were able to bring more conclusive data.

“I said, ‘Hey guys, can you give me your numbers? Give me something to go on here. Tell me why.’ And so they actually looked at longitudinal numbers from their own students and finally got those numbers back to Senator Rosenbaum last year when we transitioned over to him being Chair of the Education Committee. And there’s real data there, that talks about student achievement.”

Sinclair adds that some of the reasons that schools want to be able to offer longer days for preschool students, is that it can help improve learning skills and offers a safe place for children to stay while their parents work, helping to alleviate some of the pressure from the understaffed and overworked childcare industry.