Austin Public Schools is ahead of the curve when it comes to all-day kindergarten — and it’s paying off.

The district stands to receive an extra $850,000 in state per-pupil funding due to a 2013 Minnesota Legislature mandate for school districts to implement all-day kindergarten.

A change in per-pupil funding formulas will recognize all-day kindergartners as full-time students, unlike previous years when kindergartners only counted for a little more than part-time, according to Austin’s finance director Mark Stotts.

“We’ll get credit for them like they’re attending for a full day,” he said.

Austin’s Woodson Kindergarten Center has had all-day kindergarten for the past 10 years and already meets the new state mandates, according to Woodson Principal Jessica Cabeen.

“There’s going to be no changes to our programming, structure or schedule,” she said.

The extra funding will go into the district’s general fund, which already funds Woodson. Stotts said the $850,000 will likely help cover inflation costs for next year and help the district balance its budget.

Austin has $8.7 million in its unreserved general fund, a little higher than the district’s policy to keep at least one month’s expenses — a little more than $4 million — set aside. Stotts said the district purposefully built up the general fund to deal with a deficit budget this year.

The projected $850,000 in extra funding is based on the district’s projected kindergartner head count. Stotts said a 2009 five-year study by state demographer Hazel Reinhardt predicts about 405 kindergartners coming to Woodson for the 2014-2015 school year based on Mower County birth records. Woodson has about 420 students this year, which Reinhardt accurately predicted. That’s the largest class on record at Woodson, with about 25 students in regular classes and about 24 students in year-round, or 45/15 schedule classes, Cabeen said.

The district hired an additional teacher before the school year in order to keep class sizes low.

Austin will invite Reinhardt back in March to complete another five-year demographic study to see how well the district is growing. Reinhardt accurately predicted the district would grow by 300 to 400 students by 2014, and potentially as much as 1,000 more students from 2009 to 2019. Stotts said the district would have the study’s results in late March or April.