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Wes-Del board approves move to enrollment-based preschool fees to stabilize program revenue
Summary
The board approved shifting preschool from attendance-based billing to an enrollment-based model (charged $150/week per enrolled spot), a change district staff said would add roughly $24,600'$32,000 in revenue under current enrollment and better align with county practices.
Kelly Christie, who oversees the district preschool program, told the board she wants to shift preschool billing from an attendance-based model to an enrollment-based model to stabilize staffing and budgeting. "We're going to charge that $150 a week whether you're here one to five days," she said, describing a system that holds a spot for an enrolled child and charges to preserve staffing capacity.
Christie said the district currently charges $150 per week to outside families and offers in-district reductions. She proposed a $200 deposit for new enrollments (with $150 applied to the first week's fee and $25 each for registration and supplies) and recommended pausing charges for two weeks at Christmas break, spring break and fall break because the school is closed. For shorter absences she recommended a 50% weekly charge only for families who miss an entire week; partial-week absences would not receive prorated credits under the new model.
Fiscal impact: Christie presented sample calculations based on current enrollment and said moving the two classes now charging part-time rates to full enrollment billing would increase weekly revenues by $684 and, across a 36-week school year, add roughly $24,624; she later summarized approximate additional revenue of about $32,000 when broader adjustments are applied. The board discussed voucher coverage and Christie said the voucher value (as she characterized it) was roughly $147 per week, noting that in practice voucher families at the district would pay only a small amount under the new rate.
Board action and context: The board voted to approve the updated preschool tuition and enrollment policy. Christie said the preschool operates as a stand-alone entity that does not currently require district subsidies and that enrollment billing would bring the district in line with local child-care practice while preserving slots for families who choose to keep them.
The change includes updating enrollment packets and the handbook to reflect payment expectations and deposits; Christie said staff would begin using the new forms for next year's enrollments.
