June 3, 2008

 
As school districts and state agencies worked to understand and implement Act 62 of 2007, the prekindergarten bill from last year, it became clear that several clarifications and updates were necessary.  As the 2008 session evolved, H.884 became the vehicle to apply these changes.  Act 62 required prekindergarten programs to receive either NAEYC accreditation or at least three-star approval in the Department of Children and Families’ “STARS” system as a prerequisite for counting pre-k students in a school district’s average daily membership.  This year, it was determined that the NAEYC accreditation process was prohibitively expensive for many districts, and the STARS (Step Ahead Recognition Program) program is applicable primarily to private programs and is not currently appropriate for public school programs.  

Therefore, H.884 (now Act 132) directs the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the Department of Education (DOE) to jointly develop and approve rules for STARS standards applicable to both public and private prekindergarten settings.  DCF will adopt the approved rules no later than April 1, 2009, to be effective for the 2009-2010 school year.  In addition,

• For the 2008-09 school year only, H.884 grants “presumptive eligibility at a three star level” for all public and private programs that are in “good regulatory standing” with DCF.    
• H.884 clarifies that public and private prekindergarten programs will have one full year from the effective date of the rules required by Section 3 of Act 62, which the State Board approved at its May 20th meeting, to achieve full compliance regarding provisions in the rules related to conducting child development assessments and governing the manner in which school districts and private providers establish and negotiate contract payments.
• H.884 updates and clarifies the number of prekindergarten students a district may count in its average daily membership (ADM).  These limits apply to both public school programs and private programs operated on behalf of districts.  The ADM cap is designed to approximate the larger of 10 children or the number of resident four year- olds.  Each year, the DOE will notify districts of their most advantageous cap number.

The “grandfather” clause in Act 62, which will remain applicable, allows districts to count in their ADM as many prekindergarten students as they previously counted in any of the following three school years: 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07.  School districts can continue to count all students receiving Essential Early Education (EEE) services in their ADM as well as the following:

ADM Limits (districts may choose the largest of the following four options):

1)      10 children

2)      One + the average annual increase/decrease in the district’s 1st grade ADM for the past five years * the district’s most immediate first grade ADM

3)      The total number of resident prekindergarten students eligible to enter kindergarten the following year.  (For a district to use this number, it must notify the DOE of its intention to do so, because this information is not readily available at the Department.)

4)      One-fifth of the district’s ADM for grades 1-5 in the prior year.

For more information about Act 132 or the rules associated with Act 62, contact:

Barbara Postman
Policy Coordinator
(802) 229- 6377
bpostman@voicesforvtkids.org

OR

Kim Friedman
Organizing Director
(802) 348-9879
kfriedman@svcable.net