By David Huck
Journal Inquirer
Published: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 11:56 AM EST
HEBRON — The Board of Education has adopted a $12.01 million budget for 2012-13 that includes an expansion of all-day kindergarten.
The spending plan represents a 1.85 percent increase, or $218,373, over the current year’s $11.79 million budget. In December, Superintendent Eleanor Cruz presented a $12.25 million budget proposal that sought $458,473 more in spending but recently revised the recommendation to make it more “palatable to the community,” she said.
Voting against the plan were Republicans Amy Lynch-Gracias and Dominic Marino.
Health insurance costs are up 22 percent or $265,000, and teachers will get 4.43 percent raises next year. The budget also accounts for a loss of $176,000 in federal education jobs money. There are no staff layoffs under the proposal.
Enrollment in the town’s two schools is expected to drop by 8.5 percent, or 89 students, from 1,047 students to 958 next school year.
Eight early retirements — of which only one will be filled — and a reduction of the director of special education’s position from full-time to three days a week will bring some of the savings to carry out the kindergarten expansion. Cruz said she would assume the responsibilities of the special education director for the other two days of the week.
“There’s nothing being sacrificed for all-day kindergarten,” Cruz said. Current staff will teach the added sections, she said, and the school system already has materials, supplies, and furniture to support the program.
The school system, however, currently has a bus contract that it must uphold until June 2013 that provides bus service during the middle of the day for the half-day programs.
Cruz said they have to honor that contract and the company told them that they must “absorb” costs associated with new legislation requiring the company to offer paid sick-time for their drivers. She did say there will be savings on diesel fuel.
Cruz said the expansion is necessary in order to remain competitive with the increasing number of towns offering early childhood education, such as Andover and Glastonbury. It is a trend that state education officials are also pushing.
Two years ago, residents strongly opposed a previous proposal by Cruz to expand all-day kindergarten. Voters approved the town budget that year in a third referendum after the Finance Board ordered flat spending and the proposal was removed from the school board’s budget. In a voluntary exit poll given to voters then, 72 percent said they did not want to expand the program.
“I think the conversation is different this time around. I think there’s more urgency around the necessity for this decision,” Cruz said. “We’re hearing the message loud and clear that this is where we need to move. We can’t afford to wait.”
This year there are 119 students enrolled in kindergarten classes; there are two full-day classes, and six half-day sections. The expansion would call for five full-day classes, with approximately 18 students to a class. So far, 87 parents have enrolled their children for kindergarten next year, while enrollment projections estimate 95 students.
This year’s kindergarten class will be the first group of students to take the revised Connecticut Mastery Tests when they reach Grade 3 in 2014.
“Content that was taught in perhaps second grade has now shifted to kindergarten that children have to master by the age of 5,” Cruz said. “We have not put in place all of the standards and curriculum that we need to have in place.”
The half-day classes, which are 2½ hours long, have around one hour and 20 minutes worth of instruction; full-day kindergarten offers around four hours of instruction and allows teachers to review important objectives, Cruz said.
The other time is spent on play, which is where students develop their social skills. Cruz said that 98 percent of students entering the school system were enrolled in a preschool program.
“There is no way that we can teach this content in kindergarten in a half-day. It’s just not physically possible,” she said. “You more than double the instructional time a teacher has to expand and provide children the important opportunity to play.”
In opposing the measure, Marino said that the school system should spend its money on initiatives that support the most students.
“It’s not mandated, and the state isn’t going to chip in any money,” Marino said. “It’s voluntary, and there’s no data that concretely shows that scores go up.”
The budget has been forwarded to the boards of Finance and Selectmen, which will review it this month. An all-boards meeting will likely be held in March, followed by a public hearing in April and a referendum in May
