Old Lyme — As part of approving a $35 million 2019-20 education budget Wednesday night, the Lyme-Old Lyme Board of Education voted 7-2 to push forward a proposal to expand its preschool program next year.

Originally approved in the 2019-20 budget at a December meeting, the proposal would expand the district's part-time 4-year-old preschool program into full-time, adding two classroom units to the three already used in the program.

Superintendent Ian Neviaser said providing a quality education to all the district’s 4-year-olds was the main goal driving the board’s decision.

“The benefits of a universal Pre-K program are widely recognized as providing a solid base for learning,” Neviaser said in an email to The Day. The Board of Education "wishes to ensure all children are provided the same opportunity to be best prepared to enter Kindergarten.”

The proposal would not affect the existing part-time program for 3-year-olds.

Both residents of Lyme and Old Lyme, as well as nonresidents, will be allowed to enroll children into the program for 4-year-olds. Should enough nonresidents enroll for next year, Neviaser said there may be potential to add a sixth classroom for the program. Residents will not have to pay for the program, though it would cost nonresidents $10,000 annually per child.

Presently, the district fills its three 4-year-old preschool classes — organized around a peer-to-peer program, 50 percent of which comprises students with special needs — through a lottery system. Neviaser said the district, on average, annually turns away 37 resident students from its preschool program due to space restrictions.

The 2019-20 education budget reflects a 2.29 percent increase over this year's budget. That hike mostly reflects rising employee benefits and salary costs, Neviaser said, as well as maintenance projects, which include repairing the high school’s tennis courts for $225,000, and $45,000 in renovations to the middle school media center.

The increase does not, however, reflect the expanded pre-school program, Neviaser said, stating that the district, due to upcoming retirements, can hire pre-school teachers and aides without increasing the number of paid positions.

Neviaser said he expects to hire two certified teachers, as well as four teaching aides, as part of the expansion. Those positions, combined with benefits, will cost the district nearly $208,000.

The district also is budgeting an additional $180,000 for classroom renovations at Center School, where the preschool is located — a one-time investment, Neviaser said, to make three classrooms compliant with preschooling standards. He said funding for those renovations would come from the $300,000 typically budgeted every year toward facility maintenance costs.

“We knew that this was the budget year that we could make this proposal work,” Neviaser said in a phone interview earlier this week. He explained that the district expects, due to enrollment shifts, to fill one less fifth grade unit next year, allowing for the additional preschool units.

Neviaser said that, based on results he received from a survey posted on the Board of Education’s website in the fall, he expects 60 children to enroll in the district’s preschool program next year — enough to fill the two proposed new classrooms. He said 28 4-year-olds are enrolled in the program this year and that 106 parents responded to that survey.

Board of Education members Stacey Winchell and Jean Wilczynski voted against the budget Wednesday night. Winchell told The Day on Thursday that, though she wasn’t opposed to the preschool expansion proposal, she questions the timing of it — especially as the school system considers several upcoming renovations ranging from needed gymnasium floors and a new HVAC system at the Lyme Consolidated School to turf fields that would cost millions of dollars.

“We have had many ongoing projects that have been sitting on a laundry list for years,” Winchell said. “I feel that certain projects have been postponed for too long. Bumping in the preschool program before those doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

The proposal "does feel a little rushed,” Winchell continued. “And I feel that a little more detail needs to go into this before moving it forward.”

Responding to that sentiment, Board of Education Chairwoman Michelle Roche said Thursday she felt that this upcoming school year is an optimal time to expand the program and that the board, over the years, has always had to balance educational needs with facility updates.

“With an overall $30 million budget, you have to take turns on what you will focus on in any given year,” Roche said. “We have been thinking about and talking about doing this for a long time, and we have a responsibility to the children of our community. This is something that will benefit every 4-year-old in our community, should their families choose to take part in the program.”

“People know we already have a great school system, but this will add to it,” Roche added.

The education budget will go through a series of approvals in coming months both by the Board of Finance and the Board of Selectmen before the town votes on a final budget at referendum in May.

m.biekert@theday.com