$8 a Day

School Supt. Andrew Ravenelle floated an idea at last night's School Committee meeting that hits Save Fitchburg directly, a fee of about $8 per day for preschool.

We've got one in the preschool program, and love it. The teacher is great, the program is solid, and it's free. At about $8 per day, we figure it would cost about $1,500 per year. Obviously, that's not a lot for preschool, but we're spoiled by the current $0 we pay now (special education students, and free breakfast and lunch program students would not pay the fee).

If Mrs. Save Fitchburg and I were told last fall the program costs $1,500 a year, I don't think we would have batted an eye. Going from nothing to $1,500 is something of an annoyance, but not one that is going to cause massive outrage or rioting on Save Fitchburg Road.

It would, however, set something of a disturbing precedent -- adding a fee to basic education. Yes, this is a setting different from the typical classroom. The preschool program is, essentially, a special-education program that has slots for "regular" students. But in the end, my kid is getting a basic preschool program that in some small way I already pay for (by the way, thanks everyone for paying for it, too).

It's a precedent in that it begins to open the door to more fees for other programs. How about fees for frog dissections, chemistry experiments and Internet fees for computer classes? It's a slippery slope, and one the School Department needs to be aware of as it moves forward. Adding a fee to the preschool program isn't an absurd idea, but it might loosen things up for more fees in the future.