Aquila Elementary to Provide Free Full-Day Kindergarten

will be offering free full-day kindergarten to all interested students and families beginning next school year.

It is the St. Louis Park Public School District's first attempt at having full-day kindergarten and is being implemented on a one-year pilot basis with compensatory aid funds from the state. The district announced the program on Thursday.

Full-day kindergarten programs at the district's other elementary schools — , and — will be offered at a fee to families. Half-day kindergarten will continue to be offered at no cost, and families of students at Aquila can opt to keep their kids in the half-day program with busing provided in the early afternoon.

Aquila was selected for the pilot program because of classroom availability, and because the school serves a large number of at-risk students, according to a district press release. This year, 43 percent of the school's students receive free or reduced lunch, which is the highest percentage in the district.

Students from outside of Aquila's attendance boundaries will not be allowed to transfer into the school to take advantage of the free full-day kindergarten. However, the district is currently accepting open enrollment applications for the school from within the district.

District spokeswoman Sara Thompson said it is too early to tell how many students will apply via open enrollment, or how many students will actually partake in full-day kindergarten next school year.

This year, Aquila Elementary has 83 kindergarten students among 452 total students in grades K-5.