Source
The superintendent and the Board of Education chair answered the Board of Finance's questions about the preschool in detail, on the public record, in February 2021. Out-of-town children are admitted because the Smart Start grant requires an income mix the town alone cannot supply, so the admissions serve the grant's requirements (~1:13:35). Special-education slots pay no tuition, by law; the remaining slots pay full tuition (~1:14:52). Tuition had been raised sharply over the preceding two years and was benchmarked against neighbouring districts, topping out at the formulaic maximum (~1:16:03, ~1:20:18). The program also exists in part to stop the district losing children to magnet schools. Asked whether a large number of out-of- town children would make money for the program, the answer on the record was that it would not: once another classroom has to be opened, the revenue no longer covers the cost (~1:12:28).