Four votes for 4-year-old schooling

Muskego - The relatively new kindergarten for 4-year-olds Muskego-Norway School District will get another year of life partly because of projections that the program could break even next year, if nothing else happens to state aid to schools.

The program was controversial when it started in the 2010-11 school year on a 4-3 vote of the School Board. And it got the go-ahead for the coming year on another split vote, 4-2.

Those four votes offered the slimmest of margins for the program's survival. In December, the board will evaluate the K4 program again, and whether the program is self-sufficient by then could decide its future.

Counting on state aid

The big question is whether state aid will finally cover the program cost.

According to the state school aid formula that was in play in 2010, the K4 program should have paid for itself this school year in increased state aid. Instead, the funding formula for state aid changed, as some critics said it might, and taxpayers had to pay the $661,899 cost of the program this year and will pay for it in the school year starting this fall.

But in 2013-14, the K4 program actually would start bringing in more aid than it costs to run it, predicted Scot Ecker, director of business services.

From then until the 2016-17 school year, the K4 program should bring in nearly $4.9 million more aid than the district would have had without it, based on the current state aid formula, officials predict. They did not make projections beyond 2016-17.

Intended as revenue-maker

The board started the K4 program mainly to get that extra aid.

The school district was headed for a crippling nosedive in state aid because of several factors. The K4 program held the potential of turning that around by increasing the number of students in the district. The state gives more aid to districts with more students.

Whether the state aid formula will hold steady and actually yield that extra aid in 2013-14 won't be known this December, when the board re-evaluates K4. But there should be some indication of whether aid is going in the right direction, officials said.

But some School Board members aren't happy that the program hasn't already supported itself and can't promise to support itself without outside revenue.

School Board member Michael Serdynski voted against K4 two years ago and voted against it again for the same reasons. "We've spent close to $1.3 million over two years in taxes to operate it and not seen one dollar," he said.

No one knows what will happen to the state aid formula, Serdynski said. Even if the expected aid comes through, a dependency is being created on local and state dollars, he added.

Serdynski also said the need for K4 is already being met in the community by private preschools.

Other supportive factors

Beside the opportunity to capture more state aid, the School Board considered two other factors weighing in favor of a K4 program.

One was that the vast majority of school districts offer K4, and the district's mission is to be the district of choice in the region.

School Board President Jim Schaefer, despite initially voted against starting up a K4 program, supported giving it more time mainly because he said it helps the district compete.

"Largely, the question comes down to our district vision of being the district of choice," Schaefer said, noting that 88 percent of Wisconsin school districts offer K4. "I don't know if we would be the district of choice without it."

After touring two of the four community-based K4 sites, he said he feels the educational experiences children are having are valuable.

And the district's program has detected learning disabilities in a few children, who are now getting special help sooner than they would have otherwise so they are in less danger of falling behind, Schaefer said.

The second factor swaying votes toward K4 is that it is community-based, meaning that local preschools administer the program with teachers who meet district standards but who are not district employees. Parents pay a fee for their children to attend K4.

Voting to extend the program were Schaefer, Dean Strom, Brett Hyde and Lisa Warwick. Eric Schroeder joined Michael Serdynski in voting against.