Dulac recommends hike in Marblehead kindergarten tuition

MARBLEHEAD-Faced with a $1 million kindergarten salary budget next year, School Committee members have doubled the tuition for afternoon kindergarten sessions.Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac recommended the hike in full-day kindergarten tuition from $1,368 to $2,600. The School Committee vote was 4-1, with Chairman Dick Nohelty and committee members Amy Drinker, Patricia Blackmer and Eurim Chun in favor and Jonathan Lederman opposed.Dulac and School Business Manager Jonathan Goldfield pointed out that Marblehead could end kindergarten classes by 11:25 a.m. each day and still comply with state law, but most parents prefer the full-day kindergarten program which ends at 2:15 p.m.According to Goldfield?s one-page report, the town is expecting 220 kindergarten pupils next year, an enrollment that will cost the town $1.07 million in salaries and leave the schools with a $524,124 deficit.Goldfield?s proposal was for 180 pupils, 154 paying full tuition and 26 paying discounted tuition. He assumed that the town?s Quality Full Day Kindergarten Grant would contribute $700 per pupil. At $2,600 full tuition and $1,391 discounted tuition the program would receive $410,204, leaving a deficit of $113,920.?It?s going to be hurtful but at least we have a shot,” Dulac said, telling the School Committee he would have to squeeze another $113,000 out of his budget to make those numbers work. “We should not be subsidizing all of this on the backs of the parents.”Lederman brought a sheet of his own numbers with him to back up his contention that the School Department should leave tuition where it was.?It?s a big problem but it can?t be solved this way,” he said. “If we lose more than 17 percent of these students this plan won?t work.”Goldfield?s report noted that the average kindergarten tuition in Massachusetts is $2,716. “People I?ve checked with will stay with this,” he said. “The only alternative is child care, which is much more expensive.”