A few months ago, the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) announced that it would set aside $150,000 from surplus funds accrued by the Dept. of Human Services, to ask for recommendations to increase child care access in the county. Their focus was simple; how to create more childcare options for young children in the county. At the time, they set a June 1, 2022 timeframe to review some ideas.
The old Poncha Springs School House, at one time one of the largest in the valley, became the Town Hall, and in 2021 found new life as a critically-needed child care center. The new funding will allow it to add infant and toddler slots. Photo courtesy of Colorado Central Magazine
“Sarah Rommack has received a couple of ideas that would help us improve child care options and she’s reviewing them for the greatest opportunities for success,” said Department of Human Services Director Dave Henson, speaking at a county work session last week. “The goal is increasing childcare options for the community.”
While the decision on those extra funds was up to the BoCC, Henson pointed out that because the surplus funds are from his department, and Rommack leads the Early Childhood Council, they both would want to play a role in the recommendations.
Henson and Rommack received four proposals for funding and recommended two to the BoCC. Both were unanimously approved on a motion by Commissioner Rusty Granzella during the May 16 regular BoCC meeting.
A smaller $13,000 request was received from the Salida Montessori School, which would remodel bathrooms and make room for five additional childcare slots in Salida.
The two main learning rooms in the Chaffee County childcare Initiative located in the historic Poncha Springs School. The new funding will allow CCCI to add infant and toddler slots. Photo Stephen Hall
A second, larger proposal was received from the Chaffee Childcare Initiative located in the renovated Poncha Springs School. Their $144,000 proposal would allow them to renovate the second floor of the building. “They could move from offering only pre-school to add slots for infant care and toddlers, which is one of the more difficult slots to find now in our community,” said Rommack.
“The County Commissioners wish to spend the funds on capital projects that will expand child care slots at existing centers,” explained Rommack, who collected letters of interest and budgets from local centers that have specific capital projects needed to add more children. “It took some time to find out what projects the county was interested in funding. The majority of the request plan for the Poncha location is to renovate the upstairs of the building to have more space for kids….”
“After visiting with Sarah, we request you to consider an additional $7,000 to fund them at the $144,000 they requested,” said Henson, referencing the combined requests of $144,000 and $13,000. “Their plan is to expand capacity out there, that they want to enroll younger children.”
Commissioners asked whether the renovation bid was recent and Rommack said “she submitted it to me in the middle of April,.”
“They have done a terrific job, and now they will have no [age] minimums,” added Henson. “We really wanted to increase the number of [childcare] slots in the community, and that’s what these do. We think this is a more clever strategy [than just scholarships for training]. We will continue to need new people needing training, but it makes sense to do this and we could increase our TANIF allocation to offset this over time. For me, it seemed like a better long-term strategy – to get the childcare slots year after year. The reserve funds are a unique opportunity to do these projects.”
Colorado Moving Ahead with New Dept. of Early Childhood Education
The county’s local efforts are in line with statewide priorities. As the new state of Colorado Department of Early Childhood Education takes shape, the effort is building on community-based structures to organize and implement universal preschool (UPK) and early childhood education statewide. Specifically, the state is relying on what are being called Local Coordinating Organizations (LCOs) to prepare for implementation.
Colorado is on the cusp of early childhood education in the country. In April of this year, legislators passed HB22-1295, which created a new Department of Early Childhood Education and authorized free, universal Preschool. While many Colorado Counties already had Early Childhood Councils (the Chaffee County Early Childhood Council has enjoyed a strong reputation) for the first time the councils will be aligned around a statewide effort.
“The Transition Team from the Governor’s office did a Q&A at our last council meeting and announced that Early Childhood Councils are being charged with organizing community meetings so decisions can be made at the local level on which organization will operate as the Local Coordinating Organization,” explained the Chaffee County Early Childhood Council Coordinator Sarah Romack. “We just had our first meeting on April 28. The Local Coordinating Organization will work with the state to coordinate funding for UPK as well as help families through the application process. It will be a big lift.”
The availability and affordability of reliable childcare and the lack of preschool options have been major challenges for working families in Chaffee County. When Universal Kindergarten got approved, that took some pressure off parents. The most recent bill adds universal Preschool. But not to be forgotten; the need for childcare for those under age four, and this is also where the Early childhood Council can play a role.
When childcare isn’t available it impacts the parent’s ability to focus on work, or even get to work. Even Chaffee Commissioner Rusty Granzella has pointed out that he’s seen young children at job sites because the parent had nowhere for them to go.
Preschool Matters to Children
Researchers know that in the first few years of life, more than one million new neural connections form in the brain every second. They also have documented that children’s experiences in their first five years lay the foundation for the rest of their lives — for better or worse. Research shows that if those experiences are not high quality, children are less likely to succeed in school and to enjoy healthy and successful adult lives.
Yet a wide gap exists in access to resources during this critical period in a child’s life. Children from underserved communities without sufficient resources often enter kindergarten behind their more affluent peers. The state has committed to investments in the early childhood system that increase access to services that can help close this opportunity gap and end generational cycles of poverty.
The Department of Early Childhood Education will become a reality in July 2022. In addition to better aligning systems for Colorado’s young children and families, the department will be responsible for implementing the new voluntary, universal preschool program beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.
The state has announced that beginning in July 2023, all Colorado children will be entitled to ten free hours per week of high-quality preschool during the year before they enter kindergarten. The preschool hours are voluntary. This universal preschool system will provide options that accommodate diverse family needs and support parental choice.
Rommack says that the county’s Early Childhood Council is looking for more individuals interested in building the county’s early childhood education capacity and serving with the LCOs. “If you know of individuals that would like to be involved please send them my way.”
“The RFP will be coming out at some point in May and [responses] will be due in the middle of June,” she explains. “We will have another community meeting when the RFP and catchment area map comes out. There are a lot of unknowns as we still have not seen the catchment area map from the state and it is still unclear how the state will support this LCO. Things are happening super fast.”
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