Today district staff distributed a revised plan to begin charging tuition for some students in the Early Childhood Education program.

That plan is being posted on the district’s Web site (look for “ECE Plan” under Updates) and will be discussed by the full Board of Education at its Regular Meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 20.

The new proposal changes the way in which student tuition eligibility would be determined.

In response to the large volume of e-mail and other communications that have been sent to the Board of Education, Board President Elaine Gantz Berman today released a letter to the community:

“We have received numerous e-mails and letters regarding our proposed tuition-based ECE plan for next year. We thank you for taking the time to write the Board of Education and share your thoughts with us. We appreciate the feedback we have received and staff is using it to develop alternative proposals for the Board’s consideration.

Let me assure you that the Board and DPS administration understand the importance of early childhood education and the impact it has on the development of a child. We are committed to providing a quality ECE program throughout DPS. In all but three elementary schools, we currently offer at least one ECE class. School attendance in mandatory for seven-year-old children; however, any child attaining the age of six is entitled to a free full-day education. Half-day kindergarten is optional and funded for five-year-old children whose parents wish for them to attend. For four-year-olds, limited funds are provided by the state. These funds are used to provide a voluntary ECE program for children with certain risk factors. The state legislature is proposing to eliminate between 1,000 and 2,000 of these funded ECE slots statewide for the next school year. At this time, we do not know the impacts of these cuts on DPS. Unfortunately, even in this school year, due to budget constraints and space limitations, we turned away more than 500 students who otherwise would have qualified for our ECE programs.

The financial situation for the state is very bleak. DPS has already cut $11 million from this year’s budget, and we anticipate we will need to cut more than double that amount for next year. We are doing everything possible to work with parents to meet the needs of their students at a time when we are facing serious budget constraints. ECE is, and will remain, a high priority for DPS.

Staff has revised the original proposal. For those families who can afford it, the revised plan proposes a charge of $3.94 per hour for a 2.5 hour, five day per week ECE class taught by a licensed teacher. The tuition would be $185.00 per month. For those that meet income guidelines, some scholarship funds will be available. The scholarship funds will be limited, but this has always been the case. The Board of Education has asked staff to further revise the ECE proposal to ensure that priority is given to students on free/reduced price lunch and that all families who have the ability to pay are required to do so.

On a personal note, I sincerely wish that we could continue to offer ECE for all students needing the program without having to worry about tuition. We have tremendous ECE teachers in our district, and the benefits of the program are obvious. The opportunity to bring families into our schools at an early age helps the students, the school, and the community.

Let me close by thanking you for your input and obvious interest in this issue. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.” – Elaine Gantz Berman, President, Board of Education, Denver Public Schools.

E-mail the DPS Board of Education at board@dpsk12.org