Vermont’s school boards are getting some breathing room to prepare for universal prekindergarten education.
Last week, the Agency of Education and the Agency of Human Services sent out a memo to the state’s school boards notifying them that the implementation of universal pre-K education will be delayed until the 2016-17 school year.
In May, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a bill into law that mandates school districts to provide 10 hours of pre-K education, 35 weeks a year, for children ages 3-5 who are not enrolled in kindergarten.
Under the initial legislation, implementation was to begin July 1, 2015; however state officials have determined that timetable would not allow school boards — most of which begin building their budgets this month — to plan accordingly.
The law gives authority to the State Board of Education to propose administrative rules that clarify the way the new law will be implemented. Last week, officials recognized that those administrative rules — which will be important financial factors for school districts as they prepare their budgets — will not be ready until spring, after voters have cast ballots on the budgets on Town Meeting Day in early March.
“A crucial part of the rulemaking process includes a public comment period,” reads the memo issued Tuesday by Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe and Agency of Human Services Acting Secretary Harry Chen.
“We are defining when public education begins for kids, and the public needs to have the opportunity to weigh in on the content of the guiding regulations that will implement this new era of pre-K-to-12 public education,” the memo continues. “Allowing the rulemaking process to be complete before moving to implementation will be a better process, and we believe good process leads to better results.”
In addition to clarifying the rules, the delay will also give school districts more time to either implement their own pre-K programs or contract with private providers in the area, Holcombe said in a subsequent interview.
“It’s a timeline issue: You have to have a framework before you build a house,” Holcombe said. “This certainly reduces uncertainty during the budget-building process.”
This story originally appeared in the Barre Montpelier Times-Argus and was republished as part of a partnership with the Vermont Press Bureau.
