Talbot Schools Finance Chief Floated Pre-K Fees for Some Families; Full Cost Is $19,950 a Child

EASTON, MARYLAND — Prekindergarten costs $19,950 per child at the full state rate, and Talbot County Public Schools' chief financial officer told the Board of Education on Oct. 12 that charging some families for it is an option, according to draft minutes of the meeting.

Sarah Jones raised the idea during the board's fiscal 2028 budget discussion. The minutes say she described it as a big departure, because the district has offered pre-K to every family at no cost for a very long time. She said the state does not fund every pre-K student in district buildings. Four-year-olds are funded when the family's income is at or below 300% of the federal poverty level and the child attends full time.

Jones said she was raising the option to find out whether the board was interested, or wanted a rough calculation of what charging would bring in.

The state sets the scale. Under the proposed fiscal 2027 family-share table the Maryland State Department of Education laid out for the State Board of Education in January 2025, families above 300% of the poverty level and up to 600% would pay an estimated 10% to 40% of the $19,950 rate. That is an estimated $1,995 to $7,980 a year per child, with Tier II family contributions capped at 7% of annual family income per child. Families above 600% would pay the full cost. The same memo says a county board may waive up to 100% of the family share, and the department's cost-calculator page says not every school system collects one.

Jones told the board on Oct. 12 that no Maryland school system was charging at that time. She said the state did not release its approved tuition chart until July, and that a few districts she had talked to are considering it.

Board members who spoke were mixed. Cynthia Jurrius said she favors continuing pre-K as it is, citing early-literacy goals and families' housing costs. Emily Jackson and Dyshekia Strawberry said they agreed. Karla Wieland-Cherry said some might see charging as clashing with early-childhood education goals, and asked whether collecting from families is the district's role. Amy Dodson and Ann O'Connor asked to see the state's fee schedule, and Jones said she would come back to the board on it.

The minutes record no vote to impose pre-K fees.

The board's next meetings are a work session Monday, Nov. 9, and a regular meeting Wednesday, Nov. 11, which is Veterans' Day but not a school holiday. The Oct. 12 minutes are marked draft, so wording and figures may change when the board approves the final version.