The Bristol School Committee will host a public informational workshop about the education budget and the program for 4-year-old students, April 4 in the Bristol Consolidated School gym.
The committee and district and school officials will provide information about the budget and be available to answer questions and hear concerns from the public.
Central Lincoln County School System Superintendent Steve Bailey said the workshop would consist of a “very brief, nuts and bolts” presentation about the 4-year-old program. The presentation will include an explanation of the program budget and where it appears within the overall budget.
A question and answer session will follow, with Bailey, BCS Principal Jennifer Ribeiro and others on hand to answer questions.
Bristol voters passed the education budget at the March 13 annual town meeting. A week later, a referendum vote to validate the results of the meeting failed, 119-78.
During the weeks leading up to the annual town meeting and the referendum, no one spoke out publicly against the education budget.
Despite the lack of public opposition, The Lincoln County News, through informal communications with citizens, some of whom declined to speak on the record, has heard of variety of concerns about the program.
The opposition focuses on the 4-year-old, or pre-kindergarten, program.
The foremost complaint among opponents of the program is the allegation that district and school officials did not adequately inform the public about the program, essentially tricking residents into a unanimous “yes” vote at the annual town meeting.
The history of the 4-year-old program starts in early 2011, when the Bristol School Committee, led by Chairman David Kolodin, began researching the idea.
The committee meets on the first Wednesday of every month in the BCS library. The meetings are open to the public. The Central Lincoln County School System posts every meeting agenda on its website, and almost every meeting, if not every meeting, since spring 2011 has included an update on the 4-year-old program.
A May 2011 public workshop on the program brought together district and school officials, education experts, directors of area preschools, parents and others.
In January, the school committee released a draft budget proposal incorporating funding for a 4-year-old program. Later the same month, BCS invited parents of prospective students to an informational meeting about the program.
The Bristol School Committee unanimously approved the budget Feb. 1. The Bristol Budget Committee unanimously recommended the budget after a lengthy and vigorous exchange with district and school representatives at a Feb. 14 joint meeting with the Bristol Board of Selectmen.
Finally, the Bristol School Committee held a public workshop about the program, including a presentation and a question and answer session, at its March 7 meeting.
The Lincoln County News reported these developments, as well as the March 13 and March 20 votes. Articles about the proposal explained that the proposed education budget included funding for the 4-year-old program.
Despite the publicity surrounding the program’s development, criticism of the district and a perception of the district as hiding information persist.
Bristol Selectman Bill Benner, in a March 26 phone interview, said he has heard from many citizens with concerns along this line.
“The people at the town meeting were waiting for answers that did not come,” Benner said.
The citizens, however, did not ask any questions about the 4-year-old program or the budget as a whole.
Benner said questions asked at the Valentine’s Day meeting of the Bristol Board of Selectmen and the budget committee were left unanswered.
Benner didn’t specify what the questions were. “The people that asked the questions know what they are,” he said.
The budget committee appeared content with the answers it received, as the 12-member board unanimously recommended the budget.
Bailey, the district superintendent, said he left with the impression that the budget committee was “quite satisfied with the answers they were provided with” at the meeting.
Benner, however, said he and the other selectmen “were under the impression that there would be a public hearing the whole community would be invited to” between the budget committee meeting and the annual town meeting.
The Bristol School Committee hosted a public workshop about the 4-year-old program March 7, but Benner said the committee didn’t adequately advertise the workshop.
Benner initially wouldn’t say whether he supports the program or not. Later, he said he opposes it “only because of the lack of information.”
“I feel that there should have been an explanation at that town meeting,” Benner said.
Central Lincoln County School System Superintendent Steve Bailey agrees with this last point. The annual town meeting was the first for Bailey in his new post. If he could do it again, he said, he would explain the key parts of the budget without waiting for a question, much as Bristol Fire Chief Paul Leeman Jr. did with the Bristol Fire and Rescue budget later in the evening.
Opponents of the 4-year-old program have also said the wording of articles 14-16 on the annual town meeting warrant were unclear, as they refer to “the total cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12” and don’t explicitly refer to a 4-year-old program.
The state dictates every word of the warrant, Bailey said, and, for the Department of Education’s purposes, a 4-year-old program fits within that “total cost” framework.
“It’s not our choice to say ‘No, we ought to include this in a different way,'” Bailey said.
Aside from concerns about transparency, opponents of the program have referred to it as expensive and publicly funded babysitting.
Expenses for the inaugural year of the program total $114,787, according to district budget figures. The figure includes $74,136 in salary and benefits for a teacher.
This estimate assumes a teacher with a master’s degree, three years of experience, and health insurance for his or her family, Bailey said. Should the district locate another suitable candidate, the amount might be less.
The remainder of the budget includes $22,651 in salary and benefits for a full-time ed tech, $12,000 to pay ed techs to accompany 4-year-olds on the buses and $6000 to purchase classroom supplies.
Savings elsewhere in the budget more than offset the cost of the program, meaning Bristol taxpayers would actually pay $20,000 less for education than they did last year.
The school will not need to build an addition, purchase another bus or hire two teachers – all unfounded rumors circulated prior to the validation vote. BCS, in fact, will have a net gain of zero teachers, as another teacher is retiring this year and will not be replaced.
School officials have countered the “babysitting” tag by explaining that the school will, in fact, teach children literacy, mathematics and other subjects using The Creative Curriculum for Preschool.
The literacy program covers many components of literacy, from letters and words to vocabulary and writing. Similarly, the math aspect of the curriculum ranges from numbers to measurement, geometry, and problem-solving and reasoning skills.
The curriculum also features some work with art, music and computers.
According to information from the publisher of the curriculum, “The Creative Curriculum balances teacher-planned and child-initiated learning, emphasizing responsiveness to children’s strengths, interests, needs and learning styles.
“Nationally known for being forward-thinking, comprehensive and rigorously researched, it helps teachers plan and implement content-rich, developmentally appropriate programs that support active learning and promote children’s progress in all developmental areas.”
Regional School Unit 1 (Arrowsic, Bath, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich) uses The Creative Curriculum, as does Coastal Kids Preschool in Damariscotta, Ribeiro said.
The April 4 public informational meeting will start at 6 p.m. A regular meeting of the Bristol School Committee will precede the public informational meeting at 5 p.m. in the school library. A meeting of the Bristol Board of Selectmen will follow the public informational meeting.
A special town meeting to reconsider the education budget will follow Tues., April 10 at 7 p.m., also in the school gym.
Finally, a second budget validation referendum has been scheduled for April 24.
