The 2006 legislative session will be upon us sooner than we think. It will be a 60-day session – not much time to get a lot done. But there is one common-sense program that would make a significant difference and can be implemented quickly.

On Thanksgiving eve I met with Bette Hyde, the energetic and can-do superintendent of the Bremerton School District. We talked about priorities for public education. She has a great perspective and a well-deserved reputation for increasing academic achievement in a school district in which more than half of the children are from low-income families.

West Hills Elementary School is a good example. In this school, with two-thirds of its kids from poor households, the fourth-graders are doing better as a group than the state average for fourth-graders. Two-thirds of the students are passing the math WASL test, four out of five are passing the reading test and three out of five kids passed the writing test.

I asked Hyde what her No. 1 personal priority would be for new funding for education. Without a pause, she said, “Full-day kindergarten.”

She told me how kindergarten teachers in the Bremerton schools are confronted the first day in school with children who are not prepared to follow a sentence through to its end, who haven’t been read to, and who don’t know their numbers or their ABCs.

Today, the state only pays for half-day kindergarten as part of basic education. But half-day kindergarten lasts two hours and 15 minutes – just about enough time to get these kids organized and almost ready to learn. So each day is too close to starting all over again.

We could change this, with state funding for full-day kindergarten. It’s not a radical idea. Earlier this year the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate in Oklahoma mandated full-day kindergarten. Some school districts in Washington, with help from parent tuition, are already supporting limited versions of full-day kindergarten. But that doesn’t reach all children, and far too often it misses the children who would benefit the most in full-day kindergarten.

And the results are proven. For a monthly investment of about $140 per child, all kids in full-day kindergarten do better, especially those who come from poor families and those who are not prepared to learn when they walk through the classroom door.

Conclusive studies have shown that full-day kindergarten results in better academic achievement, less grade-level retention, fewer special-education referrals and improved behavior. It makes a big difference compared to the two hours and 15 minutes a day of getting ready to learn and then getting ready to go home that comprises half-day kindergarten.

During the 2005 legislative session, Reps. Kathy Haigh (D-Shelton), Pat Lantz (D-Gig Harbor) and Dawn Morrell (D-Puyallup) sponsored a bill for full-day kindergarten. Their idea was that if a school district decided that full-day kindergarten was a high priority, then the state would fund it as part of basic education.

The decision to participate remained with the local school district. If all school districts participated, the cost would have been about $95 million year, which is about 7 percent of the current reserve the state has been piling up over the past year. And that would mean that all children could get full-day kindergarten.

The immediate savings resulting from fewer children needing remedial activities and, down the road, from more children passing the WASL and graduating from high school would more than pay for the added investment of full-day kindergarten.

The House Education Committee passed the bill, with all the Democrats, as well as Rep. Rodney Tom (R-Medina) supporting it. Beats me why all the other Republicans on the Education Committee, including Gigi Talcott (Tacoma) and Jan Shabro (Bonney Lake), voted against full-day kindergarten. The bill stalled in the House Appropriations Committee at the end of the session.

Here is a good place to start in January. While legislators gear up for the 2006 elections, let’s make our children their top priority. A common response is “We’ll wait until after the elections.” But our kids aren’t waiting. The longer we hold off funding a better education system, the more children we will lose.

Every year does count. By funding full-day kindergarten, the 2006 Legislature could begin the campaign season with real claims to having boosted education. And education, after all, is the foundation for our democracy.

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Write to him in care of the institute at 1900 Northlake Way, Suite 237, Seattle, WA 98103. His e-mail address is john@eoionline.org.