Parents and teachers cheered at the Washingtonville School District's administrative office on Wednesday morning when Assemblyman James Skoufis announced the district is transitioning to a full-day kindergarten program.

Washingtonville is one of just five districts in New York state that does not offer full-day kindergarten. There are 725 school districts in the state.

Assemblyman Skoufis (D - Woodbury) said the new funding package recently passed by the legislature adds funding to a previous funding package.

Until this year, the state would pay 100 percent of the first year's costs of a full-day program, but nothing more. Now, the state is going to pay an additional 65 percent of the costs in the second year, and 35 percent of the costs in the third year.

"What we attempted to do was provide sort of a runway where we phase out the aid," Skoufis said.

Board of Education member Jennifer Dellova brought her daughter Amelia to the 1:15 p.m. press conference, because Amelia is currently in half-day kindergarten and had already finished for the day. Dellova said that the expanded program will save parents time and money.

She also wondered if Amelia is missing out. The new program is going to increase classroom time by two hours.

"That two hours of learning every day, she misses out on a whole half a day that all the kindergarteners across the state are getting," Dellova said.

The district's superintendent of finance said the first year of full-day kindergarten is going to cost about $950,000, and the subsequent years should cost less.

Construction of a new wing at Round Hill Elementary is ongoing and the district is planning to increase staff.

Full-day kindergarten for Washingtonville students is planned to begin in September 2019.