Private kindergartens are quietly adjusting for what many see as a significant future drop in their enrollment when state-mandated public kindergartens begin next autumn.

For some private kindergartens, that will mean gearing toward enrolling younger children, for others it may mean downsizing existing programs.

“We’re preparing to take younger children. We’ll take ones younger (than kindergarten), like toddlers,” said Karen Tate, owner of the Create and Discover Learning Center. “Our numbers will drop dramatically. We’ll probably lose about 80 children, which is usually what our kindergarten enrollment is.”

In previous years, kindergarten students at the Salem Christian School have been divided up into two classes with one teacher. This year the students have been put into one class together with an aide. The measure – which will force the school to take less than the usual enrollment of 30 children – comes as a way to keep the school from laying off teachers if the enrollment drops dramatically, according to Tony Long, school principal.

“We’ve been anticipating it for the last two or three years here. We’re fairly well prepared for it,” Long said. “Next year we won’t have to lay off a teacher if enrollment is much lower than it is now. If it doesn’t affect us next year we can reverse that.”

While the Salem Christian School has a strong, 30-year-long relationship with the neighborhood and the community, Long expects kindergarten enrollment to be much lower next year. On average, between a half and three-quarters of all kindergarten students end up transferring to a different school for first grade – a number that Long also estimates will rise in the future.

Despite the probable impact public kindergarten will have on the enrollment numbers of his own school, Long was positive about the 2007 legislation making kindergarten part of the state’s definition of an adequate education.

“I think its a good thing that New Hampshire is finally getting public school kindergarten. It is the only state in the union that has this situation left,” he said. “Of course, because we emphasize Christian values, we would like to have as many students as we could to reflect our philosophy or core values.”

For Tate, the potential for the adverse effects of the legislation will be offset by the benefits to parents and children across the state.

“I think this is a step forward. Every child has the opportunity to attend kindergarten,” she said. “It will impact us negatively, but we need to address that and realize that its best for all the children to get that opportunity.”

Tate said her program would adjust the hours of service depending on whether Salem opted for a full-time or part-time public kindergarten. If Salem moves for a half-day kindergarten, she may be able to tap into the population of parents who work full-time.

At the Littleville Learning Center owner, director and kindergarten teacher Laura Devine said she expects to lose most, if not all, of her 20 or so kindergarten students when the school district begins the public program next year.

“Definitely, it will impact my program,” she said. “I’m very sad. I was hoping they would do vouchers or something for the kindergartens in the area.”

While Salem is leaning toward installing state-funded portable classrooms at each of the six elementary schools to free up space to house the new kindergarten classes, other state funded options included contracting out to private kindergartens in the area for the first three years of the transition.

Devine said that she had begun programs for younger children, like toddlers and infants, but that since her current facility is not equipped for children of that age, she would likely have to move in the future.

She also pointed toward the impact the new public kindergartens – slated to open in the fall of 2009 – will have on the tax rate in Salem. It is a concern that has kept Salem from offering kindergarten classes before and it is one that may have an effect on whether or not the town does adopt the program by the state’s deadline of September 2009, according to Superintendent Michael Delahanty.

“As a Salem resident I’m more concerned about my taxes going up as well,” she said. “It’s not going to be free, and everybody’s taxes are going up.”