The Greene County schools will offer a tuition-based preschool for 3-year-olds next year, filling a need created when the Greene County Early Learning Center discontinued its Pied Pipers program.
The Greene County board of education unanimously approved the program, despite the fact that it will not be a break-even program for the district financially.
The program will serve children who are eligible for Head Start’s Jumpstart 3-year-old program in the mornings, and tuition students in the afternoon. Tuition children will attend either a Monday/Thursday session of a Tuesday/Friday session. Each class will have a maximum enrollment of 16 children.
Superintendent Tim Christensen reported that 41 parents had indicated an interest in the program. With a tuition charge of $125 per month, the 3-year-old program will run a deficit of about $20,000. “My vote would be to save the $20,000 up front and it saves you money on the other end,” Christensen said.
Board members concurred that funding preschool education can set children up to succeed, eventually saving money on remedial programs in years ahead.
“I’ve been a proponent for years of putting the money on the front end. I know it comes out of the general fund, but you can spend tons of money from the general fund later on trying to build it back up. Maybe we can help in advance instead of trying to catch them up later on,” board president Sam Harding said.
“I think ‘No child left behind’ means ‘no child starts behind.’ It’s easier to deal with it then rather than trying to catch them up later,” board member David Ohrt said.
The 3-year-old program was approved for one year. A decision for future years will be made after evaluating the 2014-15 year.
Early Learning Center space: Christensen reported to the board that recent concerns about available space for the Greene County Early Learning Center have eased due to the departure of a few families. The ELC will use space in the basement of the middle school for its school age program this summer, but no further discussion of additional office space will be needed.
