FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors received an update Tuesday on preparations to offer special education programming for 4‑year‑olds beginning next year.
RSU 9 is among the districts that will begin providing services to younger children next year as part of a statewide transition that must be completed by July 2028.
The change is driven by 2024 legislation that shifts responsibility for children ages 3 to 5 with individualized education programs from Child Development Services to local school districts.
The statewide transition is organized into four cohorts. Districts in the first two cohorts are already providing services, while Cohort 4 will take responsibility for eligible children by 2028. More than 70 districts are in Cohort 3, including RSU 9.
Operating under the supervision of the Maine Department of Education, Child Development Services, or CDS, coordinates early intervention for children through age 2 and provides early childhood special education for children ages 3 to 5. The agency operates nine regional sites across the state.
For decades, CDS has provided these services to young children, who then transition to their local school programs once they are old enough.
Cynthia Bernstein, RSU 9’s director of special services, said that while that system “had a really good purpose to it decades ago,” it has increasingly created a more difficult transition for children entering school programs.
“It’s a structure that’s done throughout the country,” Bernstein said of the new system, noting that the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides services for those between ages 3 and 22. “It promotes seamless instruction for our children and introduces families to the school district at that younger age.”
As is the case for many districts, Bernstein said RSU 9 wanted to take on 4‑year‑olds first. That would give the program time to build momentum and “really get our feet under us,” she said, noting that 3‑year‑olds come with another set of rules.
RSU 9 already provides special education services to 5‑year‑olds. The plan is to begin serving 4‑year‑olds in the 2026‑27 school year, adding 3‑year‑olds the following year.
District staff members have begun attending meetings of the state Department of Education’s Early Childhood Special Education section — biweekly meetings that will later include other districts in Cohort 3, which Bernstein said would be interesting and helpful.
The district is also working with a dedicated case manager at CDS Opportunities in Oxford, the closest of the nine CDS sites across the state.
Administrators have also been meeting with prekindergarten teachers at W.G. Mallett Elementary School and G.D. Cushing School.
They have also been speaking with child care providers in the district’s catchment area.
Bernstein said the news of the transition has come as a surprise to those providers, and the state is reaching out to offer more information.
The new law allows children in child care centers to receive district services, rather than coming to the district’s prekindergarten programs.
“Kids will be everywhere, and it’s our obligation to find them, identify them as eligible if they are and then provide services,” Bernstein said.
Complicating that part of the law is the requirement that child care providers have three stars under the Maine Roads to Quality network. Bernstein said many of the providers with whom RSU 9 staff members have been meeting have only two stars. Providers can seek a waiver, which would give them three years to earn the third star.
Bernstein said she and Cheryl Webster, the special education coordinator for kindergarten through eighth grade, who Bernstein said has been critical in understanding and gathering information from the CDS system, are now doing the work that the district hopes will eventually be handled by a dedicated position.
RSU 9 Superintendent Christian Elkington requested early allocation funding from the state to support a prekindergarten special education coordinator position, estimating the cost at $65,020. Bernstein said the allocation may cover a part‑time position rather than a full‑time position.
Bernstein also said that other funding is being provided by the state Department of Education to make the district’s prekindergarten classrooms more accessible for students with disabilities. Each classroom is receiving about $5,000, while one specific space that requires additional furniture and other materials will receive more.
Additionally, a self‑contained classroom will be set up for students with more significant needs. State Department of Education funding is being provided to outfit that room.
Once up and running, the program is supported financially by the state Department of Education through a per‑pupil allocation. That is mandated by the law, which forbids using general education funds to support the program, and during the 2024‑25 fiscal year the state paid out more than $7 million to the first cohort of schools. That increased to $39 million in the 2025‑26 fiscal year as the second cohort came online.
Bernstein said she has been discussing with the state Department of Education how to predict the number of 4‑year‑olds who would receive services and how to structure the program’s funding.
Predicting the number of children who qualify for services has been challenging elsewhere in the state. Before implementation, the state Department of Education told the 17 districts in the first cohort to plan for 189 students. A total of 437 were ultimately recorded as receiving special education services.
The RSU 9 board also heard a report from Andrew Hutchins, director of school nutrition, who said the district’s after‑school meals program had passed its administrative review. Since last October, the program has provided a meal to students staying after school for activities. The number of meals varies but averages about 255 per day.
Hutchins also said he intends to begin using a program called Menu Freedom to plan school menus starting in September. Noting that he spends an “incredible” amount of time on menu planning, he said the new program should greatly simplify the process.
Students and parents will be able to access the menus and click on items to view nutritional data and common allergens. Each recipe will link to its composite ingredients, which are each linked to a specific product.
Hutchins said it should also help him meet the complex nutrition standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which are highly detailed. For example, the district must serve specific amounts of red‑orange, dark‑green and starchy vegetables.
“Once I build a menu, it will tell me exactly where I’m off: Do I have too many calories this week? Or do I have too much fat in this particular menu?” Hutchins said.
Hutchins said he hopes to run an eight‑week cycle for the menus to combat “menu monotony.”
The board also approved partnering with the Instituto Tepeyac Campus Xcaret in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, to create a dual diploma program. The partnership would allow students from that school to attend classes at Mt. Blue Campus during their junior year, enabling them to earn diplomas from both schools upon graduation, provided they meet all required credits.
The students would stay with host families or, potentially, in dormitories at the University of Maine at Farmington while attending classes in Farmington. Tuition and boarding costs would be paid by the students and their families.
The funds garnered through the program would go into a separate account, with the primary goal of eventually allowing the district to reestablish the world language program at the elementary level.
In addition to bringing more students and funding to Mt. Blue, the program would give local students a cultural experience. It could also create opportunities for Mt. Blue students and staff members to travel to Playa del Carmen.
