Preschools face rising costs in COVID era

GREENWICH — Experts agree on the importance of early childhood education, but the ongoing coronavirus crisis has left many programs struggling to pay the bills while teaching the youngest members of our society, according to a local leader in the industry.

“I think these are the magic years. This is where all of those synapses are firing. This is where all of those connections are being made,” said Molly Milligan, site manager of the Warburg Center and the Gateway Preschool — two early education programs run by Family Centers, a Greenwichbased human services organization.

But “we are struggling,” she said of the local preschools, which serve children from 4 months old to 4 years old.

Family Centers leaders are not alone. Many programs for preschoolers across Connecticut have closed their doors during the pandemic, according to Merrill Gay, executive director of the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance. Closures are due to financial deficits, staff layoffs and safety concerns about reopening, among others.

Under state guidelines on the virus, the teacher to student has increased, even as the programs accept fewer students to follow social distancing measures. The health and safety aspects of the coronavirus are compounding the financial crisis, too, with the need for hand sanitizers and other costly cleaning products.

And that impact is felt the deepest at places such as Family Centers, which rely heavily on government aid to support underserved and low- income families.

Higher costs

Family Centers leaders have cut back on classroom materials and training opportunities while adjusting staffing and slashing hours of operation.

Bob Arnold, CEO of Family Centers said, in all, he projects the nonprofit will lose about $ 1 million in 2020.

“I don’t feel good about it, but we’re not the only ones in this boat,” he said.

“This is impacting early education across the state and across the country and it’s really a crisis,” he said. “And I think the incoming ( presidential) administration is recognizing it as a crisis.”

President- elect Joe Biden has chosen Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s education commissioner, to serve as U. S. Secretary of Education. One of Cardona’s goals is to provide highquality pre- K for every 3- and 4- year- old in the country.

“I think we know that this is a necessity, and it’s not an industry that can be allowed to fail,” Arnold said of preschool education.

COVID pressures

Many parents are “understandably” uncomfortable with sending their children to preschool in a congregate care setting during the pandemic, which can widen the education gap for children of different socioeconomic strata, said Milligan, from Family Centers.

Their preschool teachers are offering those parents guidance on teaching their young children from home, but it’s not the same as a classroom.

“It’s like, the ( admissions) numbers went down, the requirements went up, but the money either stayed the same or went down in many instances — because if your enrollment is low, the money is not the same,” said Yenny Toone, director of early education at Family Centers.

“So it’s like, how do you continue to operate with all of those variables coming at you? And that’s what programs that are staying open have had to deal with — while still keeping children safe, happy and learning,” she said.

Before COVID- 19, Family Centers operated on a studentto- teacher ratio of 10- to- 1. But now, the ratio is 7: 1, with the organization’s four early education sites operating at about 75 percent capacity.

“We went from having 20 children in a room to now only being able to cap it at 14, the max, for preschool,” Toone said.

Family Centers gets 24 percent of its revenue from state and federal funding, which helps to cover the cost of running early education programs. Another 21 percent comes from the tuition paid by the lowincome families they serve, Toone said.

Usually, fundraising brings in money, but that’s been impacted by the pandemic, too, causing an additional funding deficit.