Schools across US brace for surge of kindergartners in fall

(AP) - Districts across the country are hiring kindergarten teachers and preparing summer programs as they brace for a supersized class that will include more children who missed out on preschool and older classmates whose parents decided to wait an extra year because of the pandemic.

Public school enrollment tumbled last fall nationwide, but the sharpest drops were in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs. 

With large amounts of federal relief money available, school districts are taking a range of approaches to prepare. It remains uncertain just how big kindergarten classes will be in the fall. Regardless, education leaders say they expect to addressing the effects of the pandemic for years.