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Preston rejects preschool tuition increase
Preston ― The Board of Education on Monday cut two vacant paraeducator positions and delayed a plan to move central offices to leased space in an effort to cut $400,000 from the 2023-24 school budget.
The board, however, rejected a proposal to increase preschool tuition from $100 to $150 a week.
Voters approved a $14.38 million school budget at the second referendum last Thursday after the Board of Finance cut $150,000 from the school budget. Prior to the first failed referendum, the finance board had asked school administrators to cut $300,000 from the initial budget. That was done with $250,000 in spending cuts and an anticipated $50,000 in increased revenue.
Those moves left the school board with the need to finalize $400,000 in expense cuts Monday to reach the approved $14.38 million budget. The board Monday quickly adopted a set of cuts that included keeping vacant spaces open and a one-year delay in a plan to move central offices out of Preston Plains Middle School to convert the space to two needed classrooms.
Superintendent Roy Seitsinger said the middle school would “make do” this year, through scheduling shifts. But middle school enrollment is expected to increase sharply next year, so school and town officials will continue planning to lease privately-owned space in town and will revisit the issue in January to prepare for a move next summer.
Seitsinger said he listed a preschool tuition increase from $100 to $150 per week as a discussion item for the board. But board members Cindy Luty and Deborah Burke-Grabarek said they did not want any preschool tuition increase. Board members Charles Raymond and Daniel Harris favored some increase.
“That’s a sore spot in Preston,” Luty said, recalling voters’ opposition to free universal preschool enacted several years ago, voiced through multiple budget referendum rejections. “People think of it as day care. It’s not day care.”
The board then voted 3-2 in favor of keeping preschool tuition at $100 per week. Board member Meghan Gallant joined Luty and Burke-Grabarek in maintaining tuition at $100. Board member Courtney Ennis abstained, saying she has a child entering preschool this year.
Seitsinger had estimated the preschool increase would have raised $50,000. The board opted to make up that amount by reducing utilities expenses by $25,000, based on town and school Finance Director Cindy Varricchio’s projection that utility costs are expected to drop this year. It also asked Seitsinger to find the final $25,000 in reductions in operational costs throughout the budget.
