The New Bloomfield School Board will assess funding for its preschool program in the future.
David Tramel, superintendent, said at the New Bloomfield Board of Education meeting on Thursday that state funding is not what it used to be, and financial support for the preschool program to make up for the lack thereof from the state may need to be internal. He added the district became dependant on funds from the Missouri Preschool Project through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and has to now find a way to break away financially from that.
Last year, New Bloomfield's preschool program received $40,000 from the state.
Tramel, along with Elementary Principal Julie Gerloff, will assess possibilities to present to the board. Some of those options include increasing the cost of preschool tuition or decreasing from a 12-month program to a nine-month program, but Tramel said those ideas are not well liked. Gerloff said she hopes to maintain the year-round program and not increase the price for parents. Her dream, she added, is tuition-free preschool.
The board was also presented with survey results from 40 graduates from the New Bloomfield class of 2013 on their after-high-school status. The results:
•10 graduates are attending a four-year college
•16 graduates are attending a two-year college
•Three graduates are in the military
•10 graduates are employed
•One graduate is unemployed