KENT, Conn.—The Board of Education voted Wednesday, May 15, to increase tuition for non-resident students from $4,500 for a first child and $2,250 for a second family member to $4,595 for the first child and $2,295 for the second.
Additional services needed by the students are charged separately.
Board Chairman Jen Duncan told her board members that the Board of Finance has consistently asked for a tuition increase in recent years, adding that it has been at least five or six years since rates increased.
She said Kent’s tuition is the second highest in Region 1, with Falls Village charging $2,200 per child; Cornwall Consolidated, $3,400, North Canaan, $4,569 and Sharon, $2,200 for the first child and $1,100 for the second. Salisbury does not accept tuition students and Housatonic Valley Regional High School charges $5,800 for vo-ag students from other districts.
The per pupil cost for the town to administer the school is about $31,600, but Duncan opined that it “doesn’t cost 30-ish thousand dollars” to add two more students to the building, explaining that infrastructure is not affected by the number of tuition students.
“Our rule of thumb has been to look at class sizes,” she said. “We would want to avoid a tuition student tipping the ratio numbers [of teachers to students] that the contracts require.”
She agreed that it’s “time to consider making a change,” saying other towns are having similar conversations.
Board member Heather Brand said she feared that increasing tuition could be discouraging to parents who want to send their children to KCS. “It’s something the Board of Finance has asked for, but it’s better to do it in alignment with other towns,” she said.
“We’re not talking 20 percent,” Duncan replied. She suggested tuition might rise at the same rate as the school’s budget, 2.11 percent this year.
“We want a number attainable for families because there is absolutely a benefit to having tuition students. They help round out our sports teams, their families shop in town, they join in Park and Rec activities, go to library events … .”
School Clerk Meghan Robb said families are holding off applying this year, waiting to see what the tuition cost would be.
Duncan introduced increases of $94.95 based on KCS’ 2.11 percent budget increase, or $151 if the percentage increase for Regional School District No. 1 is included. “Or we could just say the increase is $100, or $125,” she said.
Member Kate Symonds said a policy should be developed that caps the percentage of increase for any given year. The board agreed to write a policy for future years but settled on using a 2.11 percent increase for 2025-26.
At the evening meeting, it also approved a tuition student application form suggested by Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanley. The superintendent wants conformity among the six regional elementary schools in the forms they use.
In other business, the board accepted the resignation of John Grant. There are now two vacancies on the board. During public comment, Bonnie Banffy said she would like to be considered to fill one of them.
The board briefly reviewed a new behavior policy that Brady-Shanley said is required by the state to address “challenging behaviors.” “A lot falls under challenging behaviors,” she said. “It can be bullying or teasing; it can be not listening to the teacher—any disruptive behavior.”
Teachers have already had one professional development session on how to handle such behaviors and will receive additional training next year. A special project for sixth graders is also planned.
A second policy on Expulsion, Suspension and Due Process was approved at Wednesday’s meeting. It mirrored a policy already in place except for a change in how the state defines bullying.
A point of clarification- I did not say families were holding off applying this year. I said that I was holding off sending letters out to our current tuition students,until the KCS BOE had decided what the 2025-2026 tuituion cost would be