Board puts off vote on
proposed A+ fee hike

A school board committee put off action yesterday on a proposed $10 fee increase for the state's A+ after-school program.

The proposed fee would have raised the basic monthly fee to $65.

The Department of Education and child-care providers are seeking the fee hike in hopes of retaining staff by increasing pay for A+ workers.

However, the department did not demonstrate a convincing need for the fee increase, said Karen Knudsen, chairwoman of the board's Committee on Budget and Fiscal Accountability.

"Right now, with prices going up all over the place, we don't want to impose that on parents right now," Knudsen said, noting that the program is not operating at a deficit.

It would have been the first increase since 1996.

However, Knudsen said the committee asked the department to go back and gather more information supporting a fee increase, and said the committee could revisit the issue within a matter of weeks, though it might now be too late for a fee increase to begin by the fall of this year.

The A+ program provides after-school care on virtually all public elementary campuses, often under contract with private providers. Statewide, roughly 22,750 children are enrolled in A+, and parents depend on its low-cost child care as an alternative to leaving their children home alone.