Congratulation to you all! Senate Education Committee passed the pre-k bill, H. 534 today,with a vote of 4 yes and 1 no.  Voting yes were Senators Collins, Doyle, Giard and Starr.  Voting no was Senator Nitka.

Please take a moment to give a quick call to the Senators who supported the bill. 

Just leave a message at the Sgt-at-Arms at the State House at 1-800-322-5616  or 828-2228.

The bill now goes to the full Senate and the first vote will most likely be this Friday. 

The bill voted out of the Senate made several changes to the House version, including a change to the grandfather clause which in the Senate version says:

Any district that offered prekindergarten education during the 2006–2007 academic year shall not be affected by the provisions of 16 V.S.A. § 4001(1)(C) in Sec. 6 of this act that limit the total number of prekindergarten children who may be counted within the district’s average daily membership; rather, the district may instead choose to include within its average daily membership the total number of prekindergarten children enrolled in its program, provided that the number does not exceed the highest number of prekindergarten children enrolled in any one of the following three academic years: 2004-2005, 2005-2006, or 2006-2007.  If, at any time, the district elects to determine its average daily membership of prekindergarten children based on the limitations in 16 V.S.A. § 4001(1)(C), the decision shall be final, and the district shall at all times be bound by that subdivision. 

To see the text of the bill, as voted out of the Senate Education Committee, see the Senate Calendar for tomorrow at

http://www.leg. state.vt. us/docs/legdoc. cfm?URL=/ docs/2008/ calendar/ sc070426. htm