Pre-K, Full-Day K Fees Going Up In 2010-2011

The Norfolk School Committee is increasing fees for full-day prekindergarten and for most pre-kindergar­ten classes next school year. In each case, school officials say the fee increases will help decrease reliance on the elementary schools’ operating budget, which subsidizes each program.

Parents have been paying $250 per month for each type of prekindergarten class, but starting in Septem­ber the $250 fee will apply only to the shortest pro­gram, which covers 7 ½ hours over the course of two mornings per week. Two afternoon classes a week covering 10 hours will cost $300. The longest session, which covers 12.5 hours per week, will cost $350.

The School Committee voted 4-0 this past Wednes­day to approve the new fee schedule. Prekindergarten costs the school district $340,363. Roughly two-thirds of that figure comes from the el­ementary schools’ operating budget. School Committee member Thomas Doyle said the new fees still compare well to what parents would have to pay to send their children to a private preschool. “If someone were sending their child separately to a private preschool situation somewhere, they’re paying far more than this. And I think you can make the argu­ment they’re getting a better bang for their dollar, cer­tainly, here. This is a very competitive amount. Again, I recognize it is an increase. Any amount is a difficultamount to swallow. But all things considered, it is very good considering what the tradeoff would be given if you went to a private situation,” Doyle said.

The School Committee also voted to increase the fee for full-day kindergarten to $325 per month (or $3,250 per year), up from $300 per month now.

Half-day kindergarten is free in Norfolk, but par­ents pay extra for full-day kindergarten. School Committee member Gilleland asked what the consequence would be of maxing out the kindergar­ten

fee at $400, which is the highest amount the state allows for school districts that accept a government grant to subsidize full-day kindergarten. Every $25 per month increase would bring in an extra $25,000 per year, School Committee chairman Shawn Dooley replied. But he said the School Commit­tee’s Budget Subcommittee, which he serves on, con­cluded that a more modest increase was about right.

“I’m opposed to fees. But in this current budget cri­sis, we’re trying to spread the pain, as it were, as evenly as we could across the spectrum,” Dooley said. “And I think that was kind of the decision when the committee was meeting, was: It’s going to be painful for everyone. Let’s try not to have too much pain go to any one group of people.”

School Committee member Linda Andrews ended up supporting the increase, but during the committee’s discussion she said she’d like to see the teachers chip in to help address the school district’s budget gaps. The School Committee has asked members of the teachers union to accept two furlough days next school year in lieu of professional development that would save the school district $66,000 in salary. Andrews noted that many parents are hurting now and will hurt more from the increases in fees. “Well, hearing all of that, I’d just like to say we are asking a lot. Which we are in tight times, so we do have to ask our families to pitch in a little bit more than they have in the past. But on the same note, I think the families are coming to us to say, ‘What are the teachers giving, and what can they give back to help this whole situation?’ So I think everyone needs to be very sensi­tive

to that, and hopefully we have a good response,” Andrews said.

Gilleland acknowledged that there is a risk to in­creasing the fee for full-day kindergarten because par­ents can decide to send their kids to half-day kindergar­ten, which is free. But he suggested that school officials should consider increasing prekindergarten fees fur­ther, noting that some parents are paying in the neigh­borhood of $380 per month for private preschool. “So with kindergarten the risk is if you go up too high, the parents opt out of full-day kindergarten, put their kids into half-day kindergarten, and that we can’t collect tuition for. Whereas pre-K, is doesn’t seem like you have that risk. It’s … totally optional, it’s just pro­viding early education for children in a setting that hopefully is preferable, more convenient, and excellent quality. And so our market point is $380 for 12 hours; we’re at $350,” Gilleland said, noting that the fee for the 7-1/2-hour prekindergarten program is staying level at $250. “The $250 per month for what they were paying before is not an increase, you kept that the same. So it seems like if we’re trying to generate revenue, without the risk of people going to half-day, and then we have to educate those children, then we’ve lost that revenue. There may be more room on the pre-K end of things.”

Andrews said she doesn’t believe there’s much risk of losing students from the full-day kindergarten pro­gram, either. “I don’t think you’re going to lose people for the full-day K. Because most of those people are looking for daycare. So they’re going to have to go someplace else to get the daycare,” said Andrews. “Usually from history, people actually always fillthose slots — there’s usually not enough of those slots.” But Norfolk Superintendent Don LeClerc said that while in most years the school district has had a wait­ing list for its early-childhood programs, he’s not sure whether that trend will hold given the poor economy. Usually, for instance, there is already a waiting list at this point in the year for prekindergarten. “But there is no waiting list at this point,” LeClerc said.