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Project Hope approved for teacher daycare
Members of the Terrell ISD school board approved a proposal to open the school district's child-care center for the children of students to children of teachers in the coming school year.
The center, Project Hope, currently provides care under state grants for 14 children of Terrell ISD students.
The center would open up 15 spaces for the children of Terrell ISD employees on a first-come, first-served basis.
According to Project Hope director Laurie Black, opening the center to children of teachers is one way for the facility to make up for budget shortfalls caused by a decrease in state aid while providing a recruiting and retention incentive to teachers.
"Having on-site daycare for district employees is convenient, cost-effective, safe and reliable," Black said. "We have a wonderful daycare service - we have a four-star rating from Child Care Services - and opening to the children of staff will be a nice recruiting tool and an excellent way of retaining the the good teachers we already have."
Child Care Services is a division of the Texas Workforce Commission, which certifies child care centers and provides state funding for child care.
The center is licensed to care for up to 34 children and would always maintain space for the children of students.
"In the event that students with children would move into our district or we got more babies than we had space for, we would have to pay for the care of those children in another facility until we had space of our own," Black said. "Our grant requires us to provide for the care of students' children, so they will always be taken care of."
The cost to teachers will be $18 per school day for care of children age 4 weeks to 18 months and $16 per school day for children 19 months through age 4.
Charges for care will be multiplied by the number of days an employee works and be deducted from employee pay over a 12-month schedule.
According to Black, opening to teachers children would generate approximately $48,000 in additional revenue.
"It's important to remember this isn't about generating profit, but about making our center more cost effective to operate, attracting new teachers to our district and retaining good teachers," Black said. "If in the future, our program generates enough interest and proves to be cost-effective, we would request additional space in order to increase our licensing capacity.
"We do not want to lose sight of the fact that the students are why we exist, otherwise approximately 14-16 students would drop out every year due to pregnancy and many more might due to parenting issues.," Black continued.
The center, Project Hope, currently provides care under state grants for 14 children of Terrell ISD students.
The center would open up 15 spaces for the children of Terrell ISD employees on a first-come, first-served basis.
According to Project Hope director Laurie Black, opening the center to children of teachers is one way for the facility to make up for budget shortfalls caused by a decrease in state aid while providing a recruiting and retention incentive to teachers.
"Having on-site daycare for district employees is convenient, cost-effective, safe and reliable," Black said. "We have a wonderful daycare service - we have a four-star rating from Child Care Services - and opening to the children of staff will be a nice recruiting tool and an excellent way of retaining the the good teachers we already have."
Child Care Services is a division of the Texas Workforce Commission, which certifies child care centers and provides state funding for child care.
The center is licensed to care for up to 34 children and would always maintain space for the children of students.
"In the event that students with children would move into our district or we got more babies than we had space for, we would have to pay for the care of those children in another facility until we had space of our own," Black said. "Our grant requires us to provide for the care of students' children, so they will always be taken care of."
The cost to teachers will be $18 per school day for care of children age 4 weeks to 18 months and $16 per school day for children 19 months through age 4.
Charges for care will be multiplied by the number of days an employee works and be deducted from employee pay over a 12-month schedule.
According to Black, opening to teachers children would generate approximately $48,000 in additional revenue.
"It's important to remember this isn't about generating profit, but about making our center more cost effective to operate, attracting new teachers to our district and retaining good teachers," Black said. "If in the future, our program generates enough interest and proves to be cost-effective, we would request additional space in order to increase our licensing capacity.
"We do not want to lose sight of the fact that the students are why we exist, otherwise approximately 14-16 students would drop out every year due to pregnancy and many more might due to parenting issues.," Black continued.
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