Town of Hartford let the citizens decide on full day kindergarten; it passed!

[SusieJ]

I just saw on WCAX this evening that the town of Hartford, in a similar situation as Fairfax, had a less than full day kindergarten program. Despite economic times and the "call of Governor Douglas" to level fund and keep per pupil costs at a minimum, Hartford decided to submit the expansion of the kindergarten program to the citizens of their town as a separate article.

It passed; they will have full day kindergarten next year. The cost to Hartford is $418,000 to expand.

In Fairfax, the opportunity to let the voters decide never made it on the ballot. In fact, it was axed on a very snowy evening with minimum public knowledge or participation. We had a kindergarten committee who submitted a recommendation in support of full day which would have cost residents $40,000 (originally $70,000 before boiled down figure) -- If you use the same ratio of tax dollars supporting the full school budget it would have equated to less than $4 per homestead.

To say that I am disappointed our residents didn't have the opportunity to vote, regardless of the outcome, on this is a gross understatement. The School Board owed it to the Kindergarten committee and our community to let us decide. Using Governor Douglas as an out... was simply that... nothing more.

[CJB]

Susie

I totally agree with you.

CJB

[cestreet]

I am probably one of the strongest proponents of all-day kindergarten that you'll run across.  I was also present at the Schoolboard meeting where this decision was made, and I respectfully disagree with your characterization of this as "an out and nothing more".  What I saw was the board being very thoughtful and deliberate in their process.  They were not looking for "outs" or easy answers  - there aren't any.

Clarice Streets

[SusieJ]

Hi Clarice,
I am referring to comments made that decisions regarding the budget were made to keep in line with a request from Governor Douglas which was reiterated at Town Meeting -- comments were made before you arrived. I think that the board could have submitted the option of full day as a separate article to allow the recommendation made by a committee that spent much time being very mindful and deliberate in their process, as well, to be voted upon. I have seen this debate and process happen in many other towns over the last several years - in decent and hard economic times. In all occasions, the decision went to the voters and Hartford is one example of a town that, regardless of economic pressures from state government, allowed the residents to decide the outcome -- We can disagree on how this proceeded; I still believe the last word should have come to a conclusion in the voting booth where people truly engaged and passionate on this issue...make the final decision.

I have and will support the school board; in this case, though, I think there was an option ignored and perhaps should not have been.
Best,
Susie

[cestreet]

Hi Susie,

I wish I would have made it earlier to TMD on Sat. so I could have heard the school presentation.  Also, I don't necessarily disagree with the idea that this would have been appropriately placed on the ballot as a separate article.  However, when the board met and made the decision, they did not appear to be looking for excuses or hiding behind the guise of "Douglas said we have to."  Maybe it came across that way at TMD, but I certainly got the feeling at their meeting that they were weighing their decisions carefully and trying to do what they thought was right.

Talk to you soon,
Clarice

[Robin F]

Before I begin this reply, I need to stress that I am a Fairfax School Board member although I do not mean for this reply to speak for anyone on the Board but myself, and certainly not for the Board as a whole. That being said, I only intend with this comment to clarify certain facts related to Susie's initial post, not discuss full-day kindergarten as a whole. I do not feel that it is necessarily appropriate to give my personal opinions regarding this issue on this forum as other Board members may feel required to do so as well and there are potential Open Meeting law implications if Board members discuss Board issues without an Open Meeting notice.  I would be happy however to speak with anyone further who wishes to discuss it.

1) The number cited by Sam Hemingway in his Free Press article for the cost of full-day was inaccurate. The final cost figure for this year for full-day kindergarten, as best as the administration could calculate it, was just north of $48,000 when everything was factored in. That would just be the cost for the 2010 fiscal year. Future years could be higher or lower depending on teacher retention (salaries go up every year but a new teacher may make less than a previous one) and the level of additional support required for that particular kindergarten class (this next year had no anticipated 1on1 paraprofessionals required but other years might). Transportation costs and other factors also fluctuate year to year and could result in more or less expense in any given year.

2) I did not see the WCAX story so I don't know what was reported there, but a comparison with the Harford program does not appear to be apples to apples. The Valley News published on 1/13/09 an article about potential full-day kindergarten in Hartford and Norwich. In Hartford, it stated that the cost for the first year would be $290,000, due to several factors, but importantly it also stated that the move would have doubled the amount of state aid that the school received for the program and it would have paid for itself within 4 years.  To the best of my knowledge, that is not the case with the program we initially included in our budget.  This is an area to look at in the future. Also, the Valley News article stated that a parent survey indicated that 80% of parents who responded supported the idea. To the best of my recollection, a similar survey done here 2 or 3 years ago indicated parental support of only approximately 52-55% (not sure the exact figure as it has been a while since I heard the results).

3) The reasons for the cuts made to the initially approved budget, including full-day kindergarten, were numerous and well thought out, with the extraordinary help of the administrators. While Gov. Douglas' call was of course a consideration, in the end the cuts were made based purely and simply upon the state of economy in which we as a nation and a town find ourselves. The Board essentially decided to eliminate all planned expansion of programming, regardless of what it was, as well as other cuts. The changes that were made were basically to winnow next year's budget as much as possible with two guides - we did not want to cut any current programming and we did not want to let anyone go right now as a result of the budget (although this is still unfortunately a possibility as we have not yet been presented with revenue numbers from the state).

4) This issue is not a dead issue, and I am sure that we will consider it again next year. While the decision not to include full-day kindergarten as a separate article was done for several reasons, I personally have heard numerous people in town explain that they would prefer it as a separate article and we will likely consider that option again next year.  Of course, I urge everyone to attend Board meetings and voice their opinion, whatever it happens to be.

Robin Freeman

[SusieJ]

Robin;

Thank you for your thoughtful and comprehensive reply. You make very good points and have clarified things in detail. I believe that I was wrong to insight allegations that there was only one reason to make the decision the board made to pull it. My apoligies.

Again, I support the school board and believe that every member works extremely hard in thier role. I personally wish that the issue had made it to the voters for a decision after the time and energy the Kindergarten committee spent in making a recommendation to proceed; I realize it will likely be readdressed in the year/s to come.

Sincerly;
Susie