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Gilbert Public Schools is headed toward tuition increases in its Community Education Department for its before- and after-school care.
The increases were part of an overview presentation to the governing board Nov. 6 on the work of the department. The actual proposed increases will go before the board for action next month.
The Very Important Kids program, commonly referred to as VIK, which includes before- and after-school care, has seen significant growth, although staffing challenges have impacted attendance, Community Education Director Rod Huston said. The department is proposing a tuition increase to address rising costs and maintain quality services.
The proposed increases, which mostly represent a 10% hike, are:
Before school: From $12.10 daily/$10.75 weekly to $13.31/$11.61;
After school: $17.54/$14.95 to $19.29/$16.45;
Both before and after school: $29.65/$22.38 to $32.60/$25.25;
Wednesdays (early release): $17.54 to $25.72;
Half-days (noon-6 p.m.): $25.48 to $38.58.
From a monthly perspective, with a student attending both morning and afternoon five days a week, the increase would be $57.40 per month or about $516.60 annually.
A student attending three afternoons a week would increase about $21 per month or $189 per year.
Wednesday and half-days are staffing issues, Huston said, as most of the department’s workers who are college students do not have those days and times off, so the district struggles to meet required ratios until 3 p.m.
The district also runs enrichment programs that allow parents to sign up on early release days from 2-3 p.m. in lieu of VIK. An average cost of an enrichment program is about $125 for eight weeks. That translates to getting coverage at about $15.62 a week.
Current rates were last raised two years ago.
The proposed rates are competitive with rates at nearby school districts and private providers, Huston said.
The VIK program is working to become accredited through the Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence, which would make it the largest accredited after-school program in the state, Huston said. The accreditation process helps ensure high quality programming and standards across all the VIK sites.
Some differences he outlined with surrounding programs include whether they are licensed or not licensed; accreditation; the hours available (6:30-7:45 a.m./3-6 p.m.); breakfast and snack included; field trips are included while some places require an additional fee if your child attends field trips; staffing ratio of 1:20 for K-6); and all supplies included in the cost.
The rationale given for the tuition increases include: the loss of grant funding that was commonly available during COVID-19; increases in staffing costs, including minimum wage increases and district employee pay increases; increases in supply and material costs; and a desire to remain competitive with tuition rates at other area programs
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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