Preston - Board of Education approval and funding are in place and a classroom is available to expand preschool at the Preston Veterans' Memorial School starting Jan. 21 - now all that is needed is a teacher and students to fill the room.

The Preston Board of Education gave final approval Dec. 8 to a controversial plan to launch universal preschool using special education savings in the current school budget. That vote was an affirmation of an earlier November vote by the board that drew criticism for lack of public comment on the proposal prior to its approval.

The board heard comments at its most recent meeting and agreed with Superintendent John Welch that starting preschool is the best use for $70,000 of the anticipated $200,000 in savings from this year's special education account.

The month-long delay, however, meant the program could not start immediately after the holiday vacation and will instead start on Jan. 21, said Raymond Bernier, principal of Preston Veterans' Memorial School. The delay will allow time to hire a teacher and classroom instructional assistant and register students for the new program.

Advertisements have been placed in newspapers and on education job websites. Bernier hopes to start interviews Jan. 6 with an interview panel already set up.

Parents of the 14 eligible 4-year-olds have been contacted and are now registering their children. Registration requires proof of residency and health records, Bernier said.

Meanwhile, supplies are being ordered and a vacant classroom is being prepared for the new students. The room was built as a preschool-kindergarten room, and includes a handicapped-accessible bathroom with a kid-size toilet, built-in cubbyholes for students' belongings and tiny green- and maroon-colored chairs neatly stacked. The teacher's desk had stacks of unopened boxes of Crayola crayons.

The classroom was used as a preschool room several years ago, when the town had obtained a three-year school readiness grant, Welch said. When the grant ended, so did the program. Last year the room was used as a first-grade classroom, and this year is an available room for music practice or other activities.

Preston has one state-mandated unified preschool classroom of 15 students: four special education students and 11 regular education students. Parents of the regular education students have paid tuition on a sliding fee scale based on their income.

Starting Jan. 21, those parents will no longer pay tuition, and those who prepaid for the entire year will be reimbursed for the portion that covers Jan. 21 through June, Welch said.

The existing class will remain intact, school officials said, but in the future, special education students likely will be divided between the two preschool classes. Welch said early projections show possible enrollment of 26 students next year for two preschool classes.

At the Dec. 8 board meeting, Welch called expansion of preschool one of the most important moves the board could make to improve public education in town. He pointed to experiences of kindergarten teachers who have found that students who did not have preschool started the year far behind their classmates.

New Common Core academic standards being implemented also mean more academic requirements for kindergarten, making preschool a critical starting point, Welch said.

But the expansion has faced political and financial opposition. Universal preschool was proposed in the 2014-15 budget last spring at a projected cost of about $185,000 in the budget. But that budget was soundly defeated at referendum, leading the Board of Finance to cut $342,090 from the school budget for a second referendum. School officials canceled the preschool expansion and the plan to hire classroom aides for kindergarten. The $10.85 million school budget, representing a 2.1 percent increase over the previous year, passed June 10.

Critics called the school board's December decision to expand preschool a move to skirt the voters' wishes. Some insisted the school board must present a no-increase budget in spring or face even harsher criticism.

Welch said expanding preschool for a full year would not cost as much as initially projected. The school system would not need additional buses, and enrollment projections would call for two classrooms instead of three. He anticipates the cost next year to be no more than $110,000, including salaries for the one added teacher, teaching assistant and benefits for both.

School board Chairwoman Jan Clancy said she is a strong supporter of expanding preschool, but agreed that next year's budget must be kept in check. She stopped short of saying she wouldn't support any budget increase, but said if keeping preschool would cause a sharp budget increase, she would not support it.

"I'll have to wait and see," Clancy said. "After the increase that went through this year, I'd hate to see an increase next year."

c.bessette@theday.com

Twitter: @Bessettetheday