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Photo by Deb Gau
The fate of Marshall Area Child Care is a question the Marshall School Board will have to consider at an upcoming meeting. School district staff said the child care center has been operating at a loss for the past five years. At the same time, concerned parents say shutting down MACC will only add to a shortage of child care in the Marshall area.
MARSHALL Â When her family moved to Marshall a few years ago, Alicia Webb struggled to find day care for her toddler. But she eventually found an opening at the Marshall Area Childcare Center.
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MARSHALL Â Everyone agreed it was a tough decision to make. The Marshall Area Childcare Center provided a much-needed service for local families, and the staff and programming were excellent, Marshall School Board members said.
At the same time, Marshall Public Schools leadership said they couldn’t ignore the financial impact the daycare was having on the school district. MACC has been operating at losses of $60,000 or more a year since at least 2015. Without a partner to run the center, the recommended option would be to close MACC effective July 1, said MPS Superintendent Jeremy Williams.
School board members, however, said they wanted to give Marshall community members a chance to be heard and possibly find an alternative. The board held off on making a final decision until Feb. 16 but any proposals community members come up with will need to be sustainable, board members and MPS district staff warned.
dgau@marshallindependent.com
MARSHALL Child care needs are often cited as a concern for Marshall area families and businesses. However, the cost of keeping a child care center open may be proving too much for the Marshall Public School district.
Authorization to close the Marshall Area Childcare Center, operated by MPS, is part of the Marshall School Board’s meeting agenda this week. The board, normally meets on Monday. Because the Martin Luther King Day holiday, the board will be meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Presentation slides posted online along with the school board’s Jan. 19 agenda said MACC currently doesn’t have all of its available enrollment spots filled, and has been operating at a deficit every year since 2015. That deficit jumped from $46,241 in 2019 to $115,922 in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had an impact on child care needs and providers over the past year, presentation materials said.