A Budget Committee decision to remove kindergarten from the school district’s proposed budget for next year has made starting the program more difficult, but not impossible, say officials.

According to Superintendent Michael Delahanty, the School Board could create a separate warrant article to put in front of voters in March, ask voters to restore the funding for the program at a Feb. 5 deliberative session or make cuts elsewhere in the budget to cover the kindergarten program’s expenses to comply with the state’s mandate.

Salem is one of 12 communities that have been directed to put a kindergarten program into place after the state redefined the definition of an adequate education to include the kindergarten year. Despite a 5-4 vote on Jan. 8 by the Budget Committee to remove the program’s funding from the school budget, Delahanty said the district would begin compiling a list of eligible 4-year-olds in the community in preparation of formally enrolling next year’s kindergarten class.

“Right now I would say without the funds it would be quite a challenge to have kindergarten, though it’s not impossible,” Delahanty said. “Without the specific funds appropriated, we could still try to make kindergarten happen and that would be even without a separate warrant article and even without the restoration article.”

Set to discuss their remaining options on Tuesday, Jan. 13, Delahanty said he believed that the board would attempt to restore the program into the operating budget by way of next month’s deliberative session. Otherwise, were voters to turn down a separate warrant article in March and the district to implement kindergarten anyway, the board would have to make a “very hard decision” on what long-standing programs to eliminate, Delahanty said.

Michael Carney, a member of the Budget Committee, said his vote to remove kindergarten from the operating budget was made out of principle.

“I think the state has mandated it to us. If it’s a mandate, they should pay for it. If it’s not a mandate, then we should have the right to vote on it and the (public) should vote it up and down,” Carney said. “It’s just the principle, and maybe I’m sticking on them too hard. I believe that it’s a constitutional issue.”

Carney is not the first member of the Budget Committee to question the validity of the state’s mandate. Stephen Campbell, a 14-year committee member, has criticized the School Board for not following the lead of school officials in Hudson by taking the state to court over imposing what he said amounts to an unfunded mandate.

Despite Campbell’s vocal opposition of the mandate, Delahanty said he was surprised and dismayed by the Budget Committee’s decision.

“I understand (the) rationale – I heard it – but it’s no less disappointing,” he said.