Warrant Article 3 - Study Private Kindergarten Options

Warrant Article 3 requests that the School Board investigate contracting with Public or Private Kindergartens.

The ability for a school district to contract with another public or private kindergarten is governed by RSA 198:48-a Alternative Kindergarten Programs.

There is a key section of this RSA that seriously limits the possibility that enough viable programs will be found that meet the requirements.

RSA 198:48-a II. states that "An alternative kindergarten program shall satisfy the same criteria established for public kindergarten programs in the New Hampshire standards for school approval." This means that the alternative program will have to meet all the standards found in Ed 306 Minimum Standards for Public School Approval"

The alternative program needs to be non-sectarian, be staffed by qualified teachers, and provide for accessibility of students with disabilities, among many other requirements.

There is a grandfathering section in the article that exempts programs that had been contracted prior to 1999, but that does not apply for Milford, and we have to meet all the requirements.

Based on this RSA rule, it is almost certain that there will not be enough programs in the nearby area to meet all the needs of the district. There may be some programs that will meet the requirements, but we will have to provide for the rest of the requirements by having some in-district classes.

If we are going to have to provide for a large portion of the requirements internally in any event, then it makes sense to me to just handle all the requirements internally and not try to split them up. If we have a split program where there are some in-district classes and a few private kindergarten classes, then we will have a problem when we assign students to the various programs as there will be a fairness issue that will need to be addressed. I would prefer to avoid the whole issue and put everyone on an even footing.

There really is no harm in conducting a study, other than the fact that it will consume the efforts of the district administration for a period of time. It doesn't matter if this article passes or not, but I plan to vote against it to minimize the distractions.