RUTLAND/TIMES ARGUS, RUTLAND, VERMONT

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2006

Rutland School Board gets preschool report

By SARAH HINCKLEY

Herald Staff

      About two dozen people who attended a meeting of the Rutland City Board of School Commissioners Tuesday listened to a presentation about universal prekindergarten programs.

      Vermont education officials studying the feasibility of such programs estimate they could cost about $2,000 per child annually.  Rutland City School officials are in the early stages of considering the idea.

      “There are a lot of options and a lot of different ways and they’re all on the drawing board at this point,” said Sarah Bolster, preschool director at the Vermont Achievement Center and a member of a group helping the district study the subject.

      The study group looked at existing universal preschool programs in Burlington and Franklin County.  Those programs operate at a cost of about $2,000 per student.  Vermont has about 17,000 preschoolers who could be eligible for prekindergarten, meaning statewide adoption of such a program could cost $34 million a year.

      “Property tax is the mantra this year,” said Wendy Wilton, a state Senator from Rutland who attended the session.  “Is now the time to be putting a program out there that would increase the education costs?”

      Assistant Superintendent John Stempek said the Rutland school district’s study is concentrating on funding, on the city’s capacity for handling additional students and on possible methods of implementation.

      “We probably don’t have the capacity to handle this kind of activity for 3- and 4-year-olds,” said Stempek.  As a result, a program in Rutland were to offer universal prekindergarten, it would begin including 3- and 4-year-olds in the census data it provides to state officials.  That would help the district begin collecting state aid for the program.

         State funding would not be available the first year, so the cost of universal prekindergarten could be defrayed with grants from the Vermont Community Preschool Collaborative program.  The state would cover 50 percent of the program’s costs in the second year; and fully fund prekindergarten in the third year.

         Universal preschool would provide each student with 10 hours of education per week.

         A state law passed this year authorized the formation of a summer study committee to determine the feasibility of a statewide prekindergarten program.  Results from the study should be available to the public early next year.

         “It probably is a good idea to see what comes from that committee before you take action,” said Wilton, addressing the board and the study group.  “my advice regarding this issue:  go slow.  This may be a time for pause, not action.”

         Board members took no action Tuesday regarding universal prekindergarten.

         Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Stempek presented the board with the results of the Annual Yearly Progress testing reports.  He commended Northwest Elementary for coming off the list of schools that need improvement.  He also singled out Northeast Elementary for meeting Annual Yearly Progress status for disabled students.

         “That is very, very difficult to do,” said Stempek.  “We’re very pleased that has happened for the first time.”                             Contact Sarah Hinckley at sarah.hinckley@rutlandherald.com