‘Not just child care’ — Children’s Center struggles with funding challenges, including lack of state dollars

Wyoming is one of five states that do not provide state funding for preschool, according to a national report, and Francie Gregory, the executive director of Weston County Children’s Center/Region III Developmental Services, told the News Letter Journal that the lack of state funding presents numerous challenges.

“We can provide a quality preschool program, but, thank goodness, we have teachers who are dedicated and willing to do that for significantly lower wages than they would receive at the school district,” she told the NLJ.

The relatively low pay available to staff members makes it difficult to maintain the program. Gregory said that the center has a high turnover rate for classroom aides, who frequently realize that the job isn’t a good fit for them — after the center has paid for them to undergo fingerprinting, first aid and CPR training, and training that the Department of Family Services requires. Sometimes aides only stay for months.

“It’s not cost-effective,” she said.

Gregory said that Weston County Children’s Center/Region III Developmental Services, which is one entity that shares a building, provides many services in Weston and Crook counties. In Newcastle, it operates as a full-time, full-year developmental preschool, child care and special education services provider. It serves children ages birth through school age who have developmental disabilities or delays. Weston County services also include its preschool in Upton. 

Newcastle’s preschool has a classroom for 2- and 3-year-olds, one for 3- and 4-year-olds, one for older 4-year-olds and a pre-K classroom, she said. Newcastle’s preschool classrooms each have a classroom aide and a certified teacher, Gregory said. 

The center charges tuition for “typically developing” children, and also runs on donations, fund raising, a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant for families that qualify financially, and funding from a memorial fund that Powder River Energy provides. With the Powder River Energy funds, each of the region’s preschools — the two in Weston County and three in Crook County — provides a one-day slot to a child who qualifies for it, she said.

TANF funding received in Newcastle requires a certified classroom teacher, which is an obstacle because certified teachers can earn a lot more money in school districts, according to Gregory. At the center, the teachers’ wages come out of tuition, and she said preschool tuition is $33.25 per full day, which is at least seven hours. A half day, which runs from 8 a.m. to noon and includes a morning snack, is $16.25 per day. 

“It is difficult to run preschool with no state funding, for sure,” she said. “We cannot charge parents enough to make it a viable program. We have to find other ways besides tuition. We just can’t charge enough. Families can’t afford what it would cost to run a preschool.”

According to Gregory, the state “likes to see” mixed-ability classrooms consisting of about half in a preschool class being children who are “developing typically” and half with developmental delays or disabilities, who are receiving the “free and appropriate education” per their individualized education program, or IEP. The Region III services, which are the special education services, receive funding from the state and from the federal government. Examples of special education services include occupational therapy and physical therapy.

“We’re functioning on somewhere a little under $10,000 per child for special education services,” Gregory reported.

Every child identified with a delay is supposed to receive $12,000, per state statute, but Gov. Mark Gordon’s budget this year did not include that money, and the supplemental budget was voted down too, so there was no external cost adjustment, she said.

The center employs about 50 people total across the two counties, and about 35 work at the Newcastle building. Staff include special education paraprofessionals, kitchen staff, administrative assistants, a business manager, speech-language pathologists and an insurance biller. Most staff work 40 hours a week.

Paige Penfield-Gray, an early childhood special education instructor for Region III, was a preschool teacher at the center but, after several years, she decided to switch to special education, which she said pays better and therefore has less staff turnaround. She is now in her third year of providing special education services, and she received an endorsement in special education through the University of Wyoming this year. She expects to graduate with a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in December. Still, the pay is “nothing compared to the school district,” and Region 3 won’t be able to recognize her master’s degree with an increase in pay, “which is disheartening,” she said. 

However, Penfield-Gray said that she enjoys her work, which involves home visits and serving children across the two counties.

“We are a group of dedicated people educating children to the best of our ability,” she said. “Lack of funding impacts the experiences we can provide, but each child that attends is loved and listened to.”

The National Institute for Early Education Research, based at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education in New Jersey, on April 29 published the 2024 State of Preschool Yearbook, which compares states’ preschool access, funding and quality for the 2023-24 school year. According to the report, most state-funded preschool programs typically serve children who are 4 years old.

Wyoming early childhood education programs do receive some state support, the report said. School districts can use some Title I funding for early childhood education, and the Wyoming Department of Health runs a statewide developmental preschool program in which children ages 3 to 5 may receive IDEA services. The Wyoming Department of Family Services distributes TANF program funds to preschool services in a competitive grant process, and families that qualify for TANF can receive those services. 

According to Allison Friedman-Krauss, the report’s lead author, many Wyoming children rely on federal funding to participate in Head Start.

HeadStart.gov states that the Head Start programs provide free early learning and health services for children from birth to age 5 of eligible families and that local organizations, such as school districts, nonprofits and for-profit groups, receive funding via the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. Children qualify if their household’s income is at or below the poverty level, their family receives public assistance, if they are in foster care or if they are homeless.

According to the report, 554 3-year-olds and 1,387 4-year-olds were enrolled in Wyoming preschools or preschool special education programs in the 2023-24 school year. The state’s Head Start enrollment in that school year was 594 3-year-olds, or 9% of the state’s children that age, and 540 4-year-olds, or 8% of the state’s children of that age, the report found.

“More than 1,100 three- and four-year-olds in Wyoming could lose access to Head Start if federal funding for the program is eliminated,” Friedman-Krauss said in a press release. “Increased uncertainty about federal funding underscores the urgency for states to prioritize and expand early childhood investments.”

W. Steven Barnett, the institute’s senior director and founder, said in the release that states that financially invest in quality preschool programs “are investing in children’s futures and can expect to see strong returns on their investments.”

“Wyoming families should have the opportunity to enroll their three- or four-year-old in a quality pre-k program, no matter where they live or their economic situation,” he said.

The California-based Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, based in Seattle, supported the institute’s report, according to the release.