Cuts for TCAPS child care

The Record-Eagle - 8/28/2018

Aug. 28--TRAVERSE CITY -- Traverse City Area Public Schools officials cited staffing and licensing concerns as reasons for cuts in child care services and increased costs.

TCAPS Associate Superintendent Jame McCall said the district no longer can offer the flexibility of same-day, drop-in care or varying a child's schedule week to week. Parents must decide on a fixed schedule of care, either preschool or extended day care, to have their child take part in the programs. As for the afternoon extended day care programs, those will begin as soon as school ends and will run until 5:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

"We understand the frustration, and while we want to serve all people in our community, this may not be the program that can meet their needs," McCall said. "We want to support them in making sure they can find adequate child care if that is what they need."

Adrienne Hope, who uses the extended day program for her 9-year-old son Logan, has a job that allows some wiggle room at the beginning and end of the day. They live only 5 minutes away from the day care right now, but that will change in two months when they move 20 minutes away on the other side of town.

"I will be scrambling to get back to get him before that 5:30 cutoff," Hope said. "Most jobs that are consistent tend to be 9 to 5 or 8:30 to 5 or to about 5:30. With the crazy traffic we have, trying to get to school before 5:30 so we're not charged the additional high late fee is going to be quite the challenge this year."

Hope said she has a few people she can call to pick up her son if she's in a bind, but she knows other parents who don't have that option.

"I have a very small community that I can say, 'Hey, I'm going to be stuck at work or I have to finish a project, can you pick him up?' But I have a lot of single-parent friends that don't have that," she said. "This is going to be very detrimental to them."

TCAPS risked losing its license to provide child care if these changes were not made, said Director of Student Services Tiffany Pomaville. The Michigan State Board of Education requires a 1:8 teacher-to-student ratio for all child care programs. By having the non-varied schedules, Pomaville said they will know exactly how many children are attending and can then staff appropriately.

"Change is never easy, but we have to do this to ensure our licenses throughout our district," Pomaville said.

McCall and Pomaville said finding an adequate number of people to staff the programs has been an issue. McCall said potential employees with the level of required credentials expect caregiver/student ratios to be in line with how much they are paid.

"In an economy where we have 'Help Wanted' posted everywhere in the community, we are constantly competing for the people who can do these jobs. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we don't," McCall said. "But we still have to staff accordingly and have people who have those credentials."

Costs also have increased, in an effort to bring in more money to then hire more people. Prices have gone up between 25 percent and 28 percent for preschool services since the 2016-17 school year. The five full-day option now costs $7,110 per school year as compared to $5,310 two years ago. Hope said the increase has greatly hurt her bottom line.

"Every month, I have to increase that line item, which means something else needs to decrease," she said. "A lot of people depended on TCAPS extended day care for that to be in place and accessible and affordable. Between the cuts of the fixed schedule, the cut hours plus the continued cost increases, those are really making things difficult."

The district, however, is still seeing increased enrollment despite the cost and service changes.

"The impact has been more minimal than what we have anticipated, which we're happy about. But we're not happy about not meeting everyone's needs," McCall said. "This is one area that if we did not make some significant change, we wouldn't be meeting anyone's needs."

Revenue from the child care programs is expected to decrease by $69,000 in the 2018-19 fiscal year, but Associate Superintendent of Finance and Operations Christine Thomas-Hill said it is unknown yet if any of the changes will impact that figure. The programs transferred $371,000 into the general fund in 2017-18.

TCAPS Superintendent Paul Soma said it is important for the child care and early childhood programs to operate in the black or, at the minimum, break even. If that is not the case, Soma said, the district will have to dip into the general fund to keep the programs going.

"That would be an inappropriate use of general funds to subsidize early childhood programs," he said. "It would be much better if the early childhood program is operating in the black, is sustainable and is adding to our bottom line so we don't have to make cuts to balance the general fund budget."

PRESCHOOL COSTS

2016-17 School Year

5 full days -- $5,310

3 full days -- $3,105

2 full days -- $2,205

5 half days -- $3,555

3 half days -- $2,070

2 half days -- $1,485

2018-19 School Year

5 full days -- $7,110

3 full days -- $4,230

2 full days -- $3,060