Hillsboro school board on Monday approved refunding preschool tuition cost to parents for time lost when schools closed.

The rate, which was $150 a month for half-day preschoolers and $375 a month for full-day preschoolers, was kept at the same price for 2020-2021.

However, the school board changed its policy to refund half of tuition fees if a pandemic or similar situation occurs in the future. The other half of tuition would go toward paying preschool staff, superintendent Max Heinrichs said.

“We do still need to employ the teacher,” he said. “The teacher is still sending lessons out and doing work with students.”

The preschool calendar for 2020-2021 will be Monday through Thursday for half-day students and full-day students, with a half-day on Fridays for the latter. Minimum requirements are to have each class meet 465 hours, Heinrichs said.

“A lot of the time that’s where we run into issues,” he said. “We either start late or get out early because of weather, but we’ve made it every year.”