Early childhood education programming through the Albert Lea School District will expand this fall due to more space at Brookside Education Center.

Community Education Director Chris Chalmers and Early Childhood and Community Education Coordinator Jenny Hanson presented to the Albert Lea School Board on Monday.

With the Albert Lea Area Learning Center moving to Riverland Community College, more space was freed up at Brookside.

As a result, early childhood education will expand to include new classes and wraparound child care, which is child care that wraps around preschool education.

Hanson said the biggest concern parents had was being able to get their children to preschool.

There are many options available, and a child could potentially be taken care of from 6:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. depending on which wraparound child care options are selected. Wraparound child care will only be available at Brookside.

There will also be a new class from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for 4- to 5-year-olds at Brookside.

There will also be classes from 8:30 to 11 a.m. or noon to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday for 4- to 5-year olds, classes from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Monday through Thursday for 3-year-olds and classes from 8:30 to 11 a.m. on Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday for 3-year-olds.

At Halverson Elementary School, there will be classes from 8:30 to 11 a.m. or noon to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday for 4- to 5-year-olds.

Scholarships are available for qualifying families. Hanson said a scholarship could potentially grant up to $5,000 towards early childhood education, which would cover most of the preschool costs and wraparound child care costs, if wraparound child care is being used.

Call Megan Gooden at 507-379-4838 with questions.

In other news, the school board:

• Celebrated successes. Ellen Kehr, organizational lead with the Blue Zones Project, presented the four elementary school principals with certificates as the schools had become Blue Zones-designated schools. Officer Ted Herman and three students from the Every 15 Minutes program talked about the event to the board. The robotics team along with their coach, Ken Fiscus, talked about their recent competition and demonstrated their robot for the board. The three boys state golfers were recognized.

• Heard the superintendent’s report. Superintendent Mike Funk discussed the recent education bills that have been signed into law. For education finance, for the 2015-16 school year there will be a 2 percent increase on the general aid formula, resulting in the school receiving an additional $117 per student. In 2016-17, that formula will increase by another 2 percent resulting in an additional $119 per student. The compensatory pilot was renewed for both years at $470,000 per year. An increase of $48 million to early childhood scholarships and another $30 million for school readiness was also approved with the law, but Funk said he doesn’t know what the impact on Albert Lea schools will be yet.

There were also policy changes with teacher licenses. A teacher candidate must pass a skills exam and cannot use the ACT or SAT as alternatives. Teachers who can’t pass the exam can teach on a restricted license. Two-year provisional licenses are available for fields with teacher shortages.

The ACT is no longer required for all students, but districts must administer the ACT upon request. A new MCA high school writing test will be required. The Explore, Plan and Compass tests have been eliminated.

• Heard an Alternative Teacher Performance Pay System year in review. Coordinator Jackie Cromwell-Olson discussed ATPPS with the board. Next year, ATPPS will get $169 per student from the state and $88 per student from the local levy. Teachers will set goals, and if those goals are not met the money they would have received goes back into staff development, Cromwell-Olson said.

• Had a first reading of a policy regarding employee use of social media. A section on disclaimers was questioned and will be reworked for the second reading.

• Unanimously approved the 2016-17 budget. Deputy Superintendent Lori Volz said the budget breaks even at about $800, which she said is good. The recent increase in funding from the Legislature helped, she said.

• Unanimously approved a special education cooperative.

• Unanimously approved an increase in school board member compensation. School board members will be paid $3,600 per year and the chairperson will be paid $4,200 per year. School board member Bill Leland said the last time the board member compensation had been changed was before he first was elected to the board in 2000.

• Unanimously approved a motion under other business to move the school board meeting times back to 5 p.m. Future board meetings had been scheduled at 5:30 p.m.