Submitted by ChildCearPlz t3_11tfaai in vermont
Vermont childcare center representatives and David Post, the CEO of Little Sprouts gathered on 3/15 and 3/16 to discuss tuition increases of 30%. During the meeting, Mr. Post feigned empathy and avoided questions from some of the sharpest and most well-spoken Vermonters in attendance. Little Sprouts is a child company of the France based multinational childcare company known as Babilou Family.
I experienced something like this back in Texas. The woman who ran the daycare we had our daughter in retired and sold the center, and the corporation that bought it immediately cut everything that made it appealing. Don’t know the details of what changes they were making with the staff, I’m sure they couldn’t exactly say much without risking their jobs, but staff seemed unenthusiastic about it all. We moved our daughter to another daycare.
In this case, the center is trying to improve quality and parents are upset about the cost.
It’s a catch-22. Everyone wants quality care, but no one wants to pay for it. As a corporate center, they are either going to be lambasted for not being high enough quality or accused of being greedy for charging what it costs to provide quality.
Qualify childcare doesn't have to cost more than a mortgage.
It depends completely on what is included that makes it quality (and also what your mortgage costs!) The way the state defines quality does cost a lot to achieve, but I agree there are many ways to take great care of kids that are less expensive.
Quality childcare doesn't have to cost more than a mortgage.
For this company's business model, it does cost quite a lot. Did you know that they were the first people to pay benefits to childcare workers in the state? I get the impression they tend to be on the cutting edge, thus the expense.
I watched the first meeting.
Some salient points:
The center in question has been operating at a deficit for years. The tuition raise is to bring them into the black and also raise quality to match that of the other local centers owned by the same company.
There was a lot of talk about how difficult staffing is. Raises for staff have varied from 15-28% and represent a significant increase in cost of care over the last few years.
Parents accused the company of lying about their losses, because they wouldn't share the specific numbers. (I'm not sure what business makes their specific financials public knowledge, so I'm not sure where parents got the expectation that it was reasonable to request that)
Parents requested that the center not improve quality of care. Expressed that they didn't think routine building/facility maintenance was necessary.
Parents are upset that more training days for staff means they are moving to a care schedule more in line with the public schools.
This is not a surprise. Experienced and qualified childcare professionals are extremely hard to come by in this area and wages are competitive so if you want the best, you need pay them and that cost trickles down to the consumer as it has forever with the only excpetion being the Arizona beverage company.
Parents today are also very demanding and particular about their childs care and I wouldn't be surpised if that factors into the cost hike as well. Lots of OT to pay for.
I’ve worked in the early childcare industry for 10+ years with at least 8 of those being in Vermont. And I can affirmatively say that wages are not competitive. For myself, and every other early childcare worker I know, wages are absolute crap. Any raise in tuition more often goes to those working outside of the classroom, ie the director and higher ups.
Is a discount offered to employees pretty standard? I've noticed with my son's daycare almost all of his care providers also have a kid in the daycare in another classroom, my assumption is that's the only thing keeping people there as the pay is not good
Yeah, that tends to be one of the few “benefits”. Of course, they also don’t do things like health care at a lot of places though 🙃
I'll go ahead and disagree. It all depends on your situation. An ecredited child care expert can basically name there price now. I have a friend who nannys and schools for a family of 3 kids and everything she brings home is straight profit because her car and living expenses are provided.
Where there is a will there is a way. Most people would rather resign themselves to mediocrity than be entrepreneurial. It takes hard work, but all the best rewards follow hard work.
She clears 6 figures aswell.
Being a nanny is a completely different situation than working in a childcare center. You absolutely can make Bank bring a nanny, but it’s a completely different situation.
e isn't a nanny. She is a childcare professional with 3 degrees. childcare centers aren't the only option for motivated people.
Your defeatist woe is me outlook is good for no one including yourself.
I didn’t say that nannies aren’t childcare professionals. And I’d love to understand what exactly it is that your friend does if she’s not a nanny but doesn’t work in a center because I guess I’m just a bit confused. I have two degrees, and I know that I could make a good chunk of money “nannying and schooling” (as you said) for a family, but, to me, that’s a very different position than working in a childcare center in a classroom setting. 🙂
Really? I question this trickle down argument. Babilou has acquired seven companies, operates in 12 countries, is expanding into India, and the avg childcare salary in Vermont is less than $23k. The argument you share is the same that the oil companies have touted this year despite making record profits. Also if it were the case as you've stated it, surely the Rep in this interview could have articulated as such instead of dodging questions.
Or maybe the rep doesn’t care. He represents a multinational child care company in a state with a severe childcare shortage. I looked and tuition now is under $5 an hour. Are you honestly saying all it is worth is $5 an hour to raise a child 40 hours per week.
Let me rephrase it. How much do you think is a reasonable about per child to charge for daycare? How much do you think is a reasonable number of children per person to watch at a daycare? How much do you think is an acceptable salary for a person watching said children? How much investment back into facilities on an annual basis is appropriate for a day care?
When times are tough and everyone is hurting, is the place you want to pinch pennies really the person with a large amount of influence over your child’s early development?
The average childcare worker is making $2.50 under minimum wage? Find that hard to believe. The issue is regulation and parents. 30 years ago daycare was some lady in a trailer watching 10-15 kids. Her job was to feed them and make sure they didn’t die. When I was in daycare we would be outside most of the day unsupervised making forts and climbing trees, going sledding and having snowball fights (and occasionally fist fights).
They didn’t limit the number of kids someone could watch, and they didn’t expect that person to have a phd. I learned nothing from daycare other than being socialized to being around other kids. Kids are being coddled and society has become full of parents who if their kid gets a scratch are ready to sue over it. I still have scars from fun gone awry at daycare, but that was part of growing up.
The child care costs $5 per hour.
I paid $200/week over ten years ago ($5/hr x40 hrs) and I haven't seen a rate below $300/wk in the last year. Do you have a link to support this stat?
I am talking about what the person said above. He was saying $5 per hour for the care of the child, not $5 per hour for the employee. I am not referencing anything but what the person wrote.
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What the fuck does the per child cost have to do with the price of tea in China? A CCP can have like 8 kids per adult + 4 school age when on breaks that’s 60k-100k a year gross. It’s not great but for a home provider who can then write off their mortgage, furniture, car, etc as a business expense it’s not small either. If we reduce regulations so that average people could do that without needing special licensing there would be more capacity.
I am not 100% following your thought process.
I do agree that childcare in Vermont is over regulated. In my opinion it is the primary factor.
The laws put forth by our politicians closed many options AND took classrooms away from elementary schools which in turn is forcing many towns to put forth bonds in order to build more classrooms. In essence, childcare went up in pricing, taxes in the form of a bond for expansion went up, and taxes for the yearly budget went up.
Swing and a miss
>the only excpetion being the Arizona beverage company.
Just need the building owner to paint "childcare 99 cents" on the side and not let it be painted over.
I fuxking love Arizona is still 99 cents.
It’s almost like we need parents to raise their own young children or something… not a solution at all…being around our own young rather than boosting our “career”(ego,wallet), what a radical idea
My wife’s employer gave her three paid days of family leave after giving birth. Most employers aren’t much better and most people can’t afford to take extended periods of unpaid leave to raise their child. You are severely out of touch.
Ah man that sucks and is so insulting. That's like Clark Griswold getting the jelly of the month club as a Christmas bonus.
I’m not. This is a societal issue. Why should everyone not have the ability to raise their own children? The family lost power decades ago and there is a perpetuated class issue through the generations. I have empathy for your family. I’m not your enemy
I don't disagree with you, but the economy is not what it was, pretty sure most people can barely survive with no kids. Family raising their own children is a big deal and we should focus more as a nation to help raise the next generation.
I agree. People are barely surviving and definitely not thriving. Economic conditions are deplorable. And deaths of despair are not talked about enough as well. This is a societal sickness we allow to go on. The anxiety people, especially families, live with over financial stress is outrageous. The next gen needs parents who aren’t hell bent on their social media persona and are present enough to demand family values return to our households.
Values shift and change, but our education system would be boosted by parents staying at home occasionally. I'm not saying anyone could afford to, but it would be good for us as people.
I agree with this ^^
ok boomer
Out of touch dipshit dude user name checks out
chloroform42 t1_jck4qhe wrote
Corporate childcare ownership is an abomination, investment groups buying struggling centers to ‘flip them’ by cutting costs and raising tuition. It only works by blowing everything up. They may be banking on public investment to bail them out eventually, but in the meantime it’s the usual horrible-for-everyone-but-investors strategy