Costs force outsource talk of U.D. daycare programs
UPPER DARBY » Consideration of outsourcing the management of Upper Darby School District’s daycare programs is on the table in an effort to reduce programs costs.
The school board met in committee structure on May 22 to discuss if it would like to advertise requests for proposals, or RFPs, on the potential of another agency to operate the $60,000, taxpayer-subsidized program that serves over 450 students in before- and after-school programs run at Aronimink, Bywood, Garrettford, Highland Park, Hillcrest, Stonehurst Hills and Westbrook Park elementary schools. Other care programs include Kinder Kids for kindergarten students at the Kindergarten Center, Primos and Westbrook Park, and a summer Camp Koala program hosted at the Kindergarten Center.
Although the programs are budgeted annually, families that use the service are still charged a rate per day and per program.
The potential to contract out to organizations would be a revenue stream for the district because it would count as rental income from use of the district space, which cannot be had by a program run in-district.
According to District Chief Financial Officer Patrick Grant, an RFP is not looking to overhaul the program, a misconception that was addressed by board members and the public.
“There is nothing in this that has said that we are eliminating the program,” he said. “We are looking for an entity to come in to be able to run the program more cost effectively, to be able to maybe provide the parents and families of this district a lower cost in provision to provide daycare services from their end.”
According to Grant, deficits to run the program are running as high as its budget. Contributions to the public retirement fund (PSERS) for full-time employees, mandated cost attributed to tuition for charter school students, maintenance, utilities, and legal services were highlighted as cost drivers.
A top priority in any RFP would be for district personnel already staffing the program to be hired under the new management. At present, the program is run by four full-time employees and 17 hourly staff members.
School directors expressed concerns about the possibility of having an outside agency coming into the schools, with director Ken Rucci saying an RFP may not fix the problem. Board Vice President Ed Brown said he currently uses the program and that he would “not treat it the same way” if operations were outsourced.
Program director Laura Devlin said she was not included in these conversations involving daycare. Assistant Superintendent Dan McGarry recognized that exclusion and said she would be included in future discussions.
The board ultimately did not have the consensus needed to move to formal board action at their June 5 meeting a motion to advertise the RFP. Board President Rachel Mitchell said she would like to see a survey go out to the community to gauge involvement in the district’s program, and/or other daycare programs.
Any potential for outsourcing would not be implemented by the start of the 2018-19 school year.
“There is nothing in this that has said that we are eliminating the program. We are looking for an entity to come in to be able to run the program more cost effectively, to be able to maybe provide the parents and families of this district a lower cost in provision to provide daycare services from their end.”
— District Chief Financial Officer Patrick Grant