The Bolinas-Stinson Union School District will offer a one-year sliding scale tuition plan that preserves its preschool program for 3-year-olds.

Trustees approved the transition plan on May 8, rescinding the preliminary layoff warnings for two teachers issued in March.

An earlier plan called for the elimination the district’s free program. The district was set to offer the facilities to a private preschool provider beginning in August. The district needed to cut the $220,000 cost for the program because of a budget shortfall, Leo Kostelnik, the superintendent, said in a letter to the community last week.

“We were unable to find a provider ready to provide preschool in Bolinas-Stinson beginning in August,” Kostelnik said. “And we also heard clearly the desire of many community members to have a ”transition year’ in which to more fully explore all options for preschool funding and programming.”

Kostelnik said he recommended the board continue the preschool program for 3-year-olds, as is, for an additional year. The board agreed.

Kostelnik said the district and community would use the transition year “to explore expanded programming that is fiscally responsible, sustainable and affordable or free for our families.”

The Bolinas-Stinson Beach School Foundation, a nonprofit founded by parents and community members, “will work with us in the coming year to supplement our budget with fundraising contributions while we explore options for our preschool beginning in 2026-27,” Kostelnik said.

“They also partnered with us and families to develop a sliding tuition schedule for participation in next year’s 3-year-old preschool program,” Kostelnik said.

Johanna Scutt, a district administrator, said she sent out an enrollment agreement with the sliding scale tuition rate schedule to preschool families. The scale includes four tiers of contributions.

According to the agreement, the tiers include: free to $1,000 per month, for families of limited means; $1,000 to $2,000 per month, which “reflects the actual cost of operating the preschool”; $2,000 to $3,000 per month, which helps offset the cost for families at the first level; and $3,000-plus per month, which “ensures the sustainability of the program.”

“Tuition donations are requested on a sliding scale basis to ensure that every family has access to early education, regardless of financial circumstance,” Scutt said in the agreement form. “Families are invited to self-select the level that most closely reflects their financial situation.”

Families are asked to make an appointment in person with the district office staff to discuss their selected payment tier level. A first payment is needed to secure enrollment, Scutt said.

The district plans to fill the vacant bus driver, utility worker and assistant cook position for the preschool. That spot was also scheduled to be cut in the March preliminary layoff warnings.

According to the job posting, the 30-hour combined position pays $25.79 to $29.85 per hour for the bus driver and utility position of 22.5 hours; and $20.02 to $23.18 per hour for the assistant cook job of 7.5 hours.

As of the 2025-26 school year, all 4-year-olds will be enrolled in the district’s transitional kindergarten program, Kostelnik said. Transitional kindergarten is a free public school program for 4-year-olds to prepare them for kindergarten at age 5.

The preschool had previously started with 4-year-olds in the 2017-18 school year. In 2021-22, 3-year-olds were added. The current preschool program serves 3-year-olds for five and a half hours a day during the school year. The class size ranges from five to 10 students, Kostelnik said.

Kostelnik said his goal is to expand preschool in 2026-27 to offer it to 2- and 3-year-olds for nine hours a day, and for more than 180 days a year.

Despite those plans, the school district faces the pressures of increasing costs, declining revenue growth and possible revenue losses from federal grant cancellations and state budget shortfalls, Kostelnik said.

“At the same time, we are experiencing an equally urgent issue: Students’ academic proficiency is unacceptably low,” he said. “In response, and specifically in order to lift student learning to where it should be, we have developed and funded a three-year strategic plan that began this school year.”

The district’s $6.3 million budget has a 23% reserves fund, well above the 10% state minimum for a district of its size. However, the district has not settled labor contracts with its teachers, or certificated employee union, or with its classified workers union. Also, revenue from the district’s parcel tax, which represents about 77% of the district’s general fund, is declining, Kostelnik said.

“We are spending at risky levels in light of the current fiscal climate, and we are not alone in this,” he said.

The district serves 109 students from Bolinas, Stinson Beach and a portion of Muir Beach. Its Bolinas campus is for second through eighth grades, and its Stinson Beach campus offers preschool through first grades.