KENT, Conn.—The Board of Education decided Wednesday to leave the tuition charged for out-of-town students virtually unchanged.
Their only move was to round the charges up or down by pennies to make the figures easier for bookkeeping.
Tuition had been $4,594.95 for the first child in a family and $2,097.48 for a second child; the revised figures are $4,595 and $2,097. Prior to last May, tuition was $4,500 for the first child and $2,250 for additional children.
The Board of Finance has repeatedly urged the school board to increase tuition to offset some of the cost of education. Finance member Jason Wright has often pressed school board members to think about drawing students from other towns to increase revenues.
Kent Center School has 184 children in pre-k through Grade 8 at Kent Center School, 18 of whom are tuition students. Eleven Kent children attend Housatonic Valley Regional High School. The school board will take a proposed $8.1 million education budget to a public hearing tonight at 7 p.m. at town hall, 42 Kent Green Blvd.
The Board of Finance directed the school board to cut $30,000 from its original proposal, which Chairman Heather Brand reported had been successfully done.
Before deciding to keep tuition at the current rate, the school board compared its tuition to other Region 1 towns and found it had the highest elementary school rate in the school district. The other five member towns range from lows of $2,500 to $3,500, while the high school charges $6,800.
The tuition payments go into the town’s general fund and do not offset school costs. “There is no benefit to us to sell seats to students,” opined Brand.
Region 1 Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanley said that some of the region’s elementary schools are so small it is beneficial to bring in tuition students, but that Kent has healthy class sizes.
“I still see a direct benefit [in having tuition students,” said Brand. “We have healthy class sizes but some of these kids who have been together for years. There are social values for us.”
She noted that some people believe “we take anyone who knocks on the door,” but said that is not true. KCS Principal Michelle Mott said that before a student is admitted, the school asks for their academic records, has conversations with the parents and sometimes with the former school. “It’s very thorough,” she concluded.
Parents must also pay for their student’s special needs, which can be very costly for a school district.
Brand posed two questions to her board: should the sum be raised this year and should the board commit to a percentage increase every year. Member Cinda Clark opposed raising it because “we are already the highest in the district” and all members resisted an automatic increase every year. They did agree, however, to look at the issue annually.
In other business, Mott reported that the eighth grade will depart Monday on a class trip to Washington, D.C. It is the second year the students have taken such a trip, in which is now a region-wide event.
She reported that Kent Center School runs own summer school, which will be conducted at Kent School this year. “We rarely get kids who want to come to summer school,” she said wryly, “but we have had as many as 20 to 30 students. We do manage to have some fun each week.”
Students must be referred for the program because it is a budget item.
