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District proposes changes to early‑childhood program to preserve spots amid budget pressure
Summary
Administrators proposed a revised early‑childhood model to hold enrollment while saving roughly $1.1 million through schedule and classroom changes; staff emphasized program benefits but board members raised concerns about access for highest‑need families and staff childcare impacts.
St. Joseph School District administrators on April 13 outlined a plan to reshape the district’s early‑childhood program to preserve as many slots as possible while reducing program costs amid a broader budget shortfall.
Presenters said the program has grown to about 639 students and that the program’s net cost (after reimbursements) for 2024–25 was roughly $2.4 million. To address operating pressures, administration proposed a model with 15 classrooms at each primary site (Mark Twain and Lake Early Learning Center), rebalancing the mix of integrated, self‑contained, and title classrooms and implementing half‑day AM/PM sessions for some classes to increase capacity while lowering per‑slot operating cost. Administration estimated the change could yield about $1.1 million in savings, in part by reducing full‑day transportation and staffing costs.
Staff stressed that many of the additions in recent years — such as increased early learning, interventionists, and paraprofessional hires — were intended to meet rising special education and behavioral supports. The proposal would preserve ECSE (early childhood special education) slots (which are reimbursed at a high rate) while shifting some general education spots to half‑day to stretch capacity.
Board members and staff raised access concerns. Members asked whether moving to more half‑day seats would disadvantage highest‑need families who cannot pick up children mid-day, and whether staff would still be able to use early‑childhood care as an employment benefit. The presenter noted transportation would be maintained and that some subsidies and partnerships (for example with the Y) had been explored; she also said the district would try to retain spots and prioritize special‑education placements.
A snapshot of numbers presented: 639 enrolled; 240 students with IEPs in the cohort; about 150 students in full‑day classrooms are funded by a grant (MLQBK); food service costs were cited at about $374,000 for the program; a preliminary estimate of the total program cost after reimbursements was given as $334,912 for an upcoming year projection (presenters noted reimbursements and CEP status will change next year).
Administrators said they would provide the board with a comparison of the current model and the proposed model and expected to keep the board and public informed as they finalize details for next school year.
Quote from the presenter: "We want to keep as many spots as we can. Our community needs those spots," she said, summarizing the trade-offs guiding the design.
Next steps: staff will provide detailed model comparisons and anticipated staffing changes for board review ahead of budget adoption.
