If the day care center she runs in Monticello would endure the COVID-19 pandemic, Sherrie Gillespie wasn't sure.

" I might have stayed open, however I understand I would have had to cut some services in order to keep payroll and pay expenses," she stated.

Thanks to $445,000 in federal grant funds, Head of the Class Childcare and Learning is not just still in service but has renovated its website, offered its employees bonuses and increased its quality ranking in order to get more state funds, Gillespie said.

More than 1,600 childcare companies throughout Arkansas received a total of more than $258 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in between 2021 and 2022, according to information from the state Division of Childcare and Early Childhood Education within the Department of Education. Arkansas received a total of more than $1.5 billion in ARPA funds, focused on covering costs incurred during the pandemic.
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The Department of Education gave candidates for the childcare grant cash a wide variety of choices for how to use it, including repair work and remodellings to class and play areas, retention rewards for staff, technology upgrades and expert development, among other things.

Childcare service providers needed to be strategic about their usage of the cash since it was a one-time grant, the directors of a number of childcare centers informed the Arkansas Advocate.
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Hot Springs Child Care Center got $730,500, the largest individual share of childcare grant money in the state. The huge majority of the money went to changing physical products in class, owner and director Teri Grisham stated.

Grisham utilized some of the funds to work with temporary extra staff however did not bolster long-term staff members' pay, since "it would be hard to use that cash for payroll due to the fact that you understand it wasn't going to last permanently," she said.

Entry-level per hour wages for childcare employees are below $13 per hour in Arkansas. Kindergarten instructors now make $50,000 yearly thanks to the Arkansas LEARNS Act. Daycare and preschool directors say the earnings they provide can't compete with that, and recruiting and retaining childcare employees is an ongoing battle in the field.

" When you're paying $12.78 per hour and you expect quality childcare, it's hard unless you find someone who really, actually takes care of children," stated Mindy Shaw, the preschool director in the Batesville School District.
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The $24 billion that ARPA dispersed across the country to fund childcare throughout the pandemic expired Sept. 30, and advocates became concerned that child care centers would close and the industry would suffer.

However, Arkansas childcare service providers have actually had months to utilize the grant cash for long-term stabilization of their services, stated Olivia Gardner, director of education policy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

... I do not believe it's most likely that we're going to see a wave of closures."

View a collection of childcare grants gotten in Arkansas.

Financial sustainability

Gardner concurred with childcare providers that staff member recruitment and retention is a challenge. Some childcare workers in Arkansas got salary increases in the past year, straight or indirectly due to the grant money.

The Batesville and Hamburg school districts got $659,000 and $301,750 in grant cash, respectively. Both increased their preschool instructors' wages to $50,000 per year in action to the LEARNS Act, which offered K-12 instructors this pay hike however did not include preschool instructors, the preschool directors in both districts stated.

Both preschools also purchased brand-new playground equipment and class improvement, said Shaw in Batesville and Christa Aycock in Hamburg.

Aycock stated Hamburg teachers and administrators are anxious to see if the Legislature does something about it on preschool teacher pay.

" We're not being frivolous with the spending [of the grant funds] Now since we do not understand what the future holds with the LEARNS Act," Aycock said.

Gillespie stated she is disappointed that the LEARNS Act did not provide raises to preschool instructors, especially those who take part in the state-funded Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program, which serves kids 5 and under "displaying developmental and socio-economic danger aspects," according to the Department of Education website.

" I think it's unreasonable for us to have to do a lot of the important things the school district does ... however my certified instructors don't get that money," Monticello's Gillespie said.

More demand than supply

Head of the Class employees received bonuses from the grant funding. Gillespie stated she did not instantly give them raises but will be able to in the future after utilizing grant funds for training that increased the center's "Better Beginnings" quality rating.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services utilized to rank child care company quality on a scale of one to 3 however just recently expanded the scale from one to 6, with 6 being the highest quality. Expert development brought Head of the Class to a level six score, which will generate more state funds and permit Gillespie to increase her workers' pay and ideally supply insurance advantages, she said.

Not all child care facilities offer advantages to their staff, stated Jennifer Tucker, vice president and program administrator at the After School Program, which has 22 places throughout Northwest Arkansas.

The After School Program got a total of more than $3 million in grant financing, granted separately to the majority of its facilities. Tucker said the money reorganized the network's spending plan and made room for raises, advantages, and the addition of brand-new class, including a brand-new 13-classroom facility in Lowell that will open next year.

Grant funding is vital not just to keep childcare facilities open however to keep them economical for families, Tucker said.

" It's pricey to run a quality facility, so you can't really go down in your rates when staff wages are 90% of your budget plan," she said.

The After School Program's preschool classrooms are "at capability with a very long waiting list," Tucker stated, and she expects the brand-new area in Lowell to fill as soon as it opens.

Southeast Arkansas in general does not have adequate child care providers, Gillespie said, and Head of the Class is likewise broadening its class area in order to care for more babies.

Grisham and Gillespie both said they have a couple of early-career employees and several more with years of experience. Hiring new, qualified early childhood educators has actually proven difficult, specifically given that the pandemic, they both stated.

Gillespie stated some of her longtime employees are nearing retirement and replacing them will be an obstacle.

" The individuals I might hire aren't ready for childcare at this level," Gillespie stated. "They think we're babysitting, and we're not."

Arkansas Advocate belongs to States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a union of donors as a 501c( 3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate keeps editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for concerns: info@arkansasadvocate.com. Follow Arkansas Advocate on Facebook and Twitter.