CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The state Senate voted Thursday to give 11 school districts an extra year to start kindergarten programs they now must have in place by fall and to give them a choice of aid programs to build classrooms for the programs.The Legislature included public kindergarten as a requirement for all schools in the definition of an adequate education adopted last year. The law gives the 11 districts without kindergarten until September 2008 to offer programs, but the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Costing an Adequate Education recommended giving them an extra year.Districts seeking the extra year would have to provide a detailed plan to the state to ensure they will have kindergarten programs ready for fall 2009.The state had estimated it would cost at least $20 million for portables, furniture, fixtures and new classroom construction. Senate President Sylvia Larsen said a kindergarten aid program has $1.7 million in it to go toward the costs.The 11 districts that don't have public kindergarten are Hudson, Litchfield, Lyndeborough, Mascenic, Milford, Pelham, Auburn, Chester, Derry, Salem and Windham.The bill includes money for temporary classrooms, furniture and fixtures for three years. Towns also would get state aid for each kindergarten pupil.Districts will have the option of getting 75 percent of the cost to build the classrooms of the their choice or 100 percent of a basic building or addition that meets minimum standards. The state Department of Education would set the specifications for the basic building.Senators said that avoided triggering a constitutional prohibition against mandating new programs onto communities without paying for them.Districts would have the same aid options if the use of existing classroom space for kindergarten requires shifting older students to new or renovated classrooms.
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