Full-Day K Funding Approved by Aldermen

One-time funding that will allow Melrose Public Schools to eliminate the $2,500 full-day kindergarten fee received final and unanimous approval from the Board of Aldermen last night.

Several aldermen spoke in favor before the final vote approving the $497,425 transfer from a variety of accounts to the school department, including Ward 7 Alderman William Forbes, who said that "we always hear about full-day kids coming out ahead of half-day kids.

"That argument ends here tonight," Forbes said. "Every kid is going to have an equal opportunity and that’s the way it should be."

The one-time expenditure will bridge the one-year financial gap before additional state education funding would kick in, via the state's Chapter 70 formula, to cover the cost of providing full-day kindergarten to all students.

Alderman at-Large Don Conn, Jr. said he supported eliminating the fee "for something that I really review as part of the public education process and it should be covered by our tax dollars," and based on assurances from city officials that the additional Chapter 70 dollars would kick in next year.

"I’m assuming that’s accurate and correct," Conn said. "We will be watching that and if it doesn't happen in the future, I’m sure some of us will bring that up."

Aldermen Express Support

Alderman at-Large Jackie Lavender Bird said she runs into families with young children on a daily basis—at her children's schools, at the city's fields—and that they are constantly asking her whether the proposal to eliminate the full-day kindergarten fee had received final approval.

"I can't stress enough how important this is—$2,500 in their personal budgets is a big amount for them," Bird said. "It's such a huge impact on their lives."

The topic of unfunded mandates from the state comes up regularly at aldermen's meeting, Ward 3 Alderman Frank Wright added, saying that "this is an opportunity, in some way, to turn the tables" on the state in that regard by making an upfront investment.

Ward 2 Alderman Monica Medeiros noted that last year the that assigns students to an elementary school only once, when those students are entering kindergarten.

Medeiros said that "this is the next step in the piece of the puzzle" in keeping students at their neighborhood elementary school as the district's handful of half-day kindergarten students were all housed at a single school, and not necessarily their neighborhood school, sometimes necessitating a move once those students entered first grade.

More Funding Than Necessary?

During the public participation portion of the evening, Gerry Mroz, a frequent speaker at School Committee meetings, said that he realized the $497,425 requested is actually approximately $50,000 more than what is needed to fund full-day kindergarten.

He reiterated his concern, , that additional funding is found for the schools outside the budget process and not necessarily used for what it's originally earmarked for.

Mroz submitted that the additional $50,000 wasn't necessary and said the aldermen could choose to give that funding to the schools next year in another way, or could keep it for whatever is needed on the city side, "rather than over-funding the schools to leave another $50,000 where we don’t know necessarily where it goes to."

Ted Kenney also spoke during public participation and, like Mroz did previously, urged the aldermen to ask "some hard questions" when it came to scrutinizing the school budget.

"Sometimes money comes out of nowhere and none of us know where it came from," Kenney said. "Make sure it’s going where it’s going, not somewhere else."

Addressing the additional $50,000, Medeiros and Alderman at-Large Mary Beth McAteer Margolis said that funding is for an extra classroom teacher to ensure equitable kindergarten class sizes across the elementary schools.

Margolis also said that the smallest class sizes are most ideal in kindergarten through grade 2, recalling her own children having kindergarten class sizes of 30 and 17 and her noticing a distinct difference in their school experiences.

With regard to the aldermen's scrutiny of the school budget, Conn said that the aldermen do not have line item vetoes on the school budget, but "we do take the school budget seriously," adding that he and many of his fellow aldermen read the school budget line-by-line each year.

However, Conn said, ultimately the aldermen only vote on increasing or decreasing the school budget's bottom line, based on state law and the responsibilities of the aldermen versus the School Committee set out in those laws and rules.

"Does that mean I wouldn’t vote to do things a lot different than they are? Sure," he said. "Anyone who comes to meetings hears me railing about things all the time. That’s (the aldermen's role in the school budget) a distinction we have to keep in mind as we evaluate the budget process."