City Council trying to help keep full-day kindergarten in Philadelphia

A Philadelphia City Councilwoman is calling on the state of Pennsylvania to make sure full-day kindergarten doesn’t go away in the city.  

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell says full day kindergarten is important to the development of young people.  She said it’s unacceptable that state budget cuts are forcing the Philadelphia school district to go back to half days.

“We’ve introduced about seven resolutions about the school district and we plan to have hearings about it before we recess,” Blackwell said.

Councilwoman Blackwell said the hearings will cover more than just kindergarten

“It will focus on the entire school budget issues like counseling, nurses, that kids don’t have, issues like libraries that children don’t have,” she said.

The district is also moving to cut its teaching ranks by 12 percent in an effort to close a $600 million budget gap.

I’m Tom MacDonald WHYY News.