RTM education committee backs $1.125 million in Smart Start grants to expand preschool at Mary Morrison

The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) education committee on July 8 voted to accept two State of Connecticut Early Childhood Smart Start awards that together will fund expansion of preschool capacity at Mary Morrison.

The committee approved a resolution to accept $975,000 in operations funding to run 10 full-day early childhood classrooms and a separate resolution to accept $150,000 in capital improvement funds to add two classrooms. Both measures were forwarded to the full RTM for final approval and authorize Mayor Juliet Parker to sign required documents.

Why it matters: Committee members and staff said the awards will increase access to no-fee full-day early childhood seats, reduce inequities between half- and full-day programs and connect birth-to-3 services (via ECAT) with preschool placements.

Susan, who briefed the committee, said the district previously received a $600,000 capital grant and has used that money for work at Mary Morrison; supplies have arrived and contractors completed several safety and accessibility items. “We received the first $600,000 for the capital improvement. You’ll be very happy that we’ve spent all the money because we had to spend it for the end of June,” Susan said.

Shannon, the grants lead, described how the state increased the per-classroom operations award from roughly $7,800 to $9,750 and that the larger per-classroom amount contributed to the $975,000 operations package. “So the additional capital improvement grant is for $150,000 and the additional operation funds… that total amount is 975,000 for the operations grant,” Shannon said.

Committee members pressed staff on logistics and long-term funding. Staff said the Office of Early Childhood has not yet finalized how larger state budget surpluses will be distributed; the governor had recently announced a statewide surplus the committee quoted at about $411.7 million, but distribution plans were not specified.

The committee also heard program details: the Mary Morrison site houses an Early Childhood Assessment Team (ECAT) that coordinates birth-to-3 services and special education transitions; purchases funded with capital dollars included new furniture, playground equipment and a requested wheelchair access path; some safety-related work (egress windows, door work, roof fans) was performed by outside contractors. Vendors mentioned included School Specialty, Kaplan and Lakeshore.

On process, the chair read each resolution into the record, the motions were seconded and the committee approved both resolutions by voice vote and sent them to the full RTM for formal acceptance.

Next steps: Both resolutions will appear on the full RTM agenda for final approval. The committee adjourned at 6:37 p.m.