WILMINGTON, MA – Wilmington School Committee member M.J. Byrnes is asking Wilmington’s State House delegation – Rep. Jim Miceli, Rep. Ken Gordon and Senator Bruce Tarr – to oppose Governor Charlie Baker’s proposed elimination of the kindergarten expansion grant program from next year’s budget.
Wilmington had anticipated receiving approximately $132,000 from these grants to help fund its popular Full Day Kindergarten program for the 2015-2016 school year.
Andy Metzger, of the State House News Services, summarized Baker’s position in an article he wrote earlier this week.
“Baker’s budget proposal consolidates grants offered to school districts and eliminates a grant program for kindergarten expansion while increasing the state’s funding for local schools,” writes Metzger. “The administration justified the cuts to the kindergarten grants by noting 85 percent of school districts offer full-day kindergarten and those kindergarten students are funded through the state education aid account known as Chapter 70.”
At Wednesday’s School Committee Meeting, Wilmington Superintendent of Schools Mary DeLai said that the argument used to justify the cuts is misleading.
“The reality is 85% of students are NOT enrolled in Full Day Kindergarten. 85% of districts may offer Full Day Kindergarten, but they may also offer Half Day Kindergarten and Tuition-Base Full Day Kindergarten. When you offer Tuition-based Full Day Kindergarten, the participating students only count as ½ a student in the Chapter 70 formula.”
If this particular grant was to be eliminated, some school districts would have to resort to layoffs and/or instituting fees to offset the unexpected cuts. Wilmington, which is in a much better financial shape that most districts, is NOT considering such drastic measures at this time.
It was not stated, during this discussion at Wednesday’s meeting, how the district would come up with the $132,000.
M.J. Byrnes, acting as the School Committee’s legislative representative, is in the process of drafting a letter to Baker, detailing the Committee’s position.
The Committee, which wants to strike the right balance between an urgent tone while not unnecessarily worrying Wilmington parents, will be discussing the letter’s language at its next meeting on Wednesday, April 8.
Byrnes also intends on contacting Board of Selectmen Chair Judy O’Connell, with the intention of asking the Selectmen to also lobby Miceli, Gordon and Tarr.
According to Byrnes, the proposed elimination of the kindergarten expansion grant program, along with other proposed cuts in the state’s education budget, is “not just a school budgetary problem, but a community budgetary problem which affects us all.”
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