"Smart Start" putting Private Childcare out of Business?

In the mid 1990s former Governor Jim Hunt came up with the "Smart Start" program for child care. This program was designed to ensure higher quality care by assisting all child care facilities (private, corporate, for profit, or non profit) to ensure that all children in the state were exposed to higher standards of childcare. Some of the following indicators of quality were identified: pre-kindergarten (pre-K) teacher education, nurture and child/teacher ratio's, age appropriate environments, and nutrition.

Before this program was begun, the North Carolina Division of Child Development would issue an annual license to a facility in compliance with their book of State rules and regulations. North Carolina’s Childcare Regulatory book is the second most voluminous such document, only ranking behind California. This book of regulations includes codes involving fire, sanitation, and building safety for the respective counties in the State.

In 1995, Catawba County launched Smart Start and the Catawba County Partnership for Children. At that time most child care facilities in this county were operated by private business owners. Keep in mind that pre-K teachers, support staff, and the facility had to meet the regulated standards set forth by the North Carolina Division of Child Development.

At that time the local Smart Start organization distributed "grants" to the local childcare facilities so that the Smart Start organization might assist with education, environments, books, supplies, safe equipment, etc., to help meet some of the newly defined criteria that were believed to be minimally acceptable quality standards. These grants were not initiated because business owners solicited the government for grants, but because these childcare facilities provided the places where children actually spent most of their days. Parents needed help with the prohibitive costs of childcare.

This initiative enabled many parents to work or go back to school. It was looked at as an opportunity for the children of families that fell into the lower end of the socioeconomic strata to be enrolled in a licensed center that used the funds to raise the bar on quality. At the time, these facilities agreed that this was a worthy endeavor. Research has shown that if children can't be with their own parents, then they still need a safe, nurturing environment in order to progress successfully through these early years.

As time went has gone on, the Division of Child Development has revised rules, added rules, dropped rules, and eventually came up with a 3 component licensing system that has since been modified into a 2 component “Star” rating system. The Stars that facilities now receive are based upon earning points within this two component system. Thus a childcare center is rated and licensed as a one to five star facility based upon this point system. A One Star rated center means that the facility has met minimum state regulations... Two Stars, higher standards… Three Stars even higher voluntary standards were met… All the way up to the highest, a Five Star facility. This is similar to Hotels or Restaurants that are critiqued by AAA, Mobil, or Michelin.

As research continues on the human brain and child development, studies have shown that the first five years of life are the foundational years and therefore the young child's experiences can affect everything for the rest of their lives. The child’s experiences at this age indicate future success and thus well being. It is imperative that they get a good foundational start to their lives.

The lady that shared this information, I am divulging, operates a highly rated childcare facility here in Catawba County. All facility Star ratings are for a 3 year period, after which a subsequent rating inspection must be conducted again. Facilities must apply and undergo an observation by inspectors who come to the center and observe the different age groups. Afterwards, these inspectors chart measurements based upon what they saw and the questions they asked staff.

What this lady is seeing with her current periodic inspection is that there are major additional requirements and measurements that her facility (and other facilities) must undergo to obtain their standard rating. It also bothers her that there are exceptions made for public schools and some churches.

The rating scale is not necessarily required for private "mom and pop" owned child care businesses, but it is a requirement of all state licensed centers; except for the public school "More at Four" programs, which consist of "At Risk" children who are recruited into their programs. This lady has lost enrolled children from her facility to the public school’s “More at Four” program. A percentage of North Carolina lottery funds are channeled into the “More at Four” programs. The "More at Four" program is part of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This program was initiated and coined by our last Governor, Mike Easley.

High star ratings seem to be synonymous with programs that have high funding (in other words a lot of Money). The “More at Four” program isn't required to undergo a rating scale, but will do so because they have the funds at their disposal to afford the $200,000 playgrounds that appear to "raise the bar on quality."

You can visit the North Carolina Division of Child Development Website and see that they promote ONLY Government programs and other funded programs, which have been awarded Federal funds. They make it appear as though they are centered around "CHILDREN,” but they are really centered on the Almighty $$$!

Common Sense shows that the reason that any center wants a higher star rating is to appear as though they are a better facility, but we all know that this can truly be deceptive. More Stars does not necessarily equate to a better quality of childcare. The highest quality of child care centers around the integrity of the individuals caring for the child. Why would a parent choose a caregiver with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education, but no experience or nurturing ability? A system that looks at these sorts of quantitative measures looks at a child like they are a project; instead of an individual human being who needs nurturing, love, and good chemistry with the caregiver. The public school system fosters a structure and mindset that the child gets who they get (as a caregiver/instructor) and that’s the end of it.

Here we will explain why having more Stars on your wall, as a private childcare facility, is critical to the survival of a one’s business. The more stars that a facility manages to get, the more of a monthly bonus per child the facility is awarded from the Department of Social Services (DSS) subsidy program. DSS receives funding from the Division of Child Development. That may sound like a great way to entice childcare providers to lift their standards of care, but it goes back to showing that this isn’t about the children, it’s about money.

Since the monthly bonus money goes to the big facilities who get the funding to put the shiny new buildings in place and the educated teachers that get a "package" that the “mom and pops” can't afford, they exploit the so called "At Risk" children to promote the bureaucracy’s agendas.

It has been pointed out to me that the local Catawba County Smart Start Program is housed in a new building at the old Sweetwater Elementary school. They have also opened up two “More at Four” classes and a Head Start program, which is an overlapping of services and double expenditure of our tax dollars. They are trying to fill these programs by recruiting from the private facilities. The lady who brought all of this to my attention stated that these Public Entities are recruiting children out of her private program, into their program, because they received funding to open these new classrooms and the end result is that her facility is looking more and more like a ghost town.

These local public childcare programs have recruited anywhere from 2 to 5 children from this lady’s childcare facility annually over the last few years. They are making the “At Risk” children’s parents believe that they don't have a choice, if they want to attend a program for free, then they have to enroll at their facilities, She stated that that this isn’t true. Doing the math: one "At Risk" child's annual tuition at her childcare center is $5,460. (subsidy pays it with a small parent fee, but the parents of so called "At Risk" children are the biggest contributors to their own child's "At Risk" status, parents SHOULD be held a tiny fraction responsible). $5,460 X 5 = $27,300.00. That's how much revenue the government is taking out of her facility, on average, annually. How many other facilities are facing similar circumstances?

This lady believes that the growth of the educational bureaucracy in Catawba County is growing more and more out of control and they are using young children to promote a lie. She believes that the administrators of these programs are blowing our tax dollars on luncheons, comfortable furnishings, and ego. She states, “They have taken federal funds and continue to create bogus job titles for themselves so that they can keep channeling money into their pockets and out of the child care facilities that have given the real blood, sweat, and tears.”

The Children's Resource Center has stated that they opened another "More at Four” classroom at Sweetwater this year, because they moved it from the Balls Creek area, because that area didn’t need it. Looking at the demographics, that makes sense. The Hickory area has many more Hispanics and any child that speaks Spanish as a first language, in their home, receives a spot in the “More at Four” program. And the "At Risk" criteria are advertised as being centered on children who are not already in high quality programs, such as the one this lady owns. The Public Educational Bureaucratic programs are basically all over the Department of Social Services day care unit in recruiting “At Risk” children into their public facilities, for their programs. They do this, because these children are considered "At Risk" and thus they qualify for subsidy payments.

All of these bureaucratic agencies know that they are taking children from the private facilities, because DSS keeps documents and records that show where these children have attended pre-K. The government is terminating subsidy vouchers about two weeks before the school year starts, so that they can say that the children aren't being served. What used to go into the already existing high quality centers in our area is slowly, but surely, being taken from the private facilities; except for the subsidy bonuses based on Star ratings and a few (regulated and required) workshops for teachers from centers such as the YMCA's, CVCC lab pre-school, or favored centers such as the United Way and the Boys and Girls Clubs, who also get big funding opportunities, yet need to meet the basic requirements and ongoing education requirements to stay licensed.

DSS is paying market rates for each child they have recruited into these public programs. This means that the children that are aggressively being recruited away from private childcare centers, that have earned higher stars, are driving the cost of child care over the top for the lower middle class working families in our county. Most young people starting families don't usually start off with six digit incomes in Catawba County. Market rates go across the board and vary from county to county. Working class families who deserve quality care can't afford to pay the going market rates, but childcare centers will be in breach of contract with DSS, if they offer a discount. Centers are not allowed to give breaks to working families who don't qualify for subsidies and can get into trouble with DSS, which has the wherewithal to start an investigation. The DSS has the capability of putting a childcare facility out of business.

The Children's Resource Center (Smart Start) is funding projects such as the Parenting Network (where parents are forced to attend meetings held by various systems), The Early Childhood Support Team, Health Nurses, Behavior Specialists, Infant/Toddler Specialists, Early Start Specialists, Dental Screenings and so on!

The health department already HAS health nurses for those who can’t afford them. The Smart Start Team health nurse drops off information that she has probably copied off of the internet (most daycares have internet or access to it), The “Behavior Specialist” does nothing but visit centers. The “Infant/Toddler Specialist” (this lady has never seen her). Many times the dental screeners offer condescending comments to the poor teachers who spends 40 hrs a week with (some) children that need their home life to change. They give out cheap tooth brushes, Made in China, and send a letter to the parents telling them that they need to go to a dentist, but only for the children that have Medicaid.

The lady who provided this information to me in confidence stated that this information could result in the death of her business, if her name got out. I truly appreciate this information. It is eye opening to see what a local childcare provider is having to deal with, just to stay in business. Why are we allowing the government to do this to a small business person who obviously cares about the children whose life she touches? Is this type of control and manipulation of parents and children a good idea? Is it a good idea to allow the government to monopolize childcare? Is that not the direction we are headed towards? Are you comfortable with this?

I hope that you appreciate this person’s point of view and that you realize and understand the raw power and undue influence a government can have when it sets its mind to exercising control over something. And this control is over the Progeny of America and our future.