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KIDS:PLUS fees will increase to counteract deficit
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Published: February 10, 2010
Fees for parents whose children attend the Cabarrus County Schools KIDS:PLUS childcare program will be raised next month, to make up for a $400,000 projected deficit, instead of taking away employee benefits, as previously considered.
The Cabarrus County Board of Education learned about this budget recommendation at its meeting on Monday, after it asked school system staff to look for alternatives to covering the budget shortfall last month.
Currently, parents whose children attend KIDS:PLUS have paid part-time fees based on how many hours the location is open and how many days the child attends, unlike other child care centers that charge a flat fee for everyone, said Jim Amendum, associate superintendent for the school system.
Next year, KIDS:PLUS will charge a flat fee for parents whose children attend, except for employees of Cabarrus County Schools.
As for the rest of this fiscal year, the system staff will make a mid-year adjustment to the current weekly rates, effective March 1. The system said it will notify parents about the changes within the next few days.
For parents whose children attend in the morning, the fees currently range from $25 to $40, depending on how many hours a site is open. Those fees will increase to between $34 and $40, beginning March 1.
Those whose children attend in the afternoon will no longer pay between $65 and $80. After March 1, they will pay between $74 and $80, which also depends on how many hours the site is open.
Parents whose children attend in the morning and afternoon will pay $90, instead of the current $86.
The KIDS:PLUS summer program currently costs $150 per child each week and $125 for a second child. Moving forward, it will be $160 per child each week and $135 for a second child.
For the two weeks of the summer program in June that will still be in this fiscal year, fees will be prorated.
Currently, there are 1,032 children in the KIDS:PLUS program.
Additional revenue from rate increases is expected to be $137,700 and $7,000 from the summer program rate increase.
For the decrease in snack expenses, the system expects a savings of $31,000. There will also be $250,000 taken from the KIDS:PLUS fund balance, which is a separate account and does not consist of instructional funds.
The total amount the system expects to produce with these recommendations is $425,700.
For the next fiscal year, there will be a flat fee for children who attend in the morning, one for those in the afternoon and one for those who attend both times of day, regardless of how many hours they attend. While enrollment numbers could change because of the new rates, the system staff expects a possible revenue increase of nearly $700,000 from these changes.
Other recommendations that could be considered next year include closing unprofitable KIDS:PLUS sites in the future, hiring any new employees at less than six hours with no benefits, and implementing a reduction in force for the lowest senior employees if there are site closings or drops in student enrollment.
"The economy has turned down, and people who needed child care and lost jobs haven't needed child care, so we haven't grown," Amendum said.
All of the budget recommendations discussed on Monday came after the announcement at last month's school board meeting that the KIDS:PLUS program had a projected deficit of about $400,000, due to the elementary school instruction day increasing by 30 minutes this year. As a result, there have been fewer billable hours for KIDS:PLUS.
To make up for this, field trips for the program were reduced and snack costs were renegotiated.
Because the changes were not enough to make up for the deficit, last month, system staff recommended reducing the hours for 37 six-hour day teacher assistants, which would have eliminated the employees' benefits.
At last month's meeting, board members said they were not happy about making these changes but were not sure what else to do. They had planned to vote on the changes at a meeting a week later but delayed it after Superintendent Barry Shepherd asked system staff for more time to learn about the situation.
The board also asked the system staff to look for alternatives to cover the deficit without reducing hours and benefits, Amendum said.
At Monday's meeting, board members said they were happier with the new budget recommendations.
"This is a better plan," said Wayne Williams, school board chairman. "We are providing a service, and it's an excellent service, but it is a business, and it's not supported by taxpayer money."
• Contact reporter Jessica Groover: 704-789-9152
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